Wife Dies During Childbirth. Grieving Husband Asks Strangers for Help to Hear Voice Again
For most people, losing a spouse would be one of the most difficult trials to bear. The person you’d planned on spending the rest of your life with, gone in a moment.
Your whole life changes. You have to make new plans by yourself. If there are children, you have to rally with them and find a way to keep going.
In such cases, grieving family members often cling to any memory or reminder they can, anything that will help keep the memory of their loved one alive.
A grieving husband and first-time father was able to keep his wife’s memory alive, thanks to the support of total strangers from the internet. While the internet sure has its downfalls, Jared Buhanan-Decker has been the recipient of an outpouring of love since the tragic death of his wife.
After 9 years of marriage, the couple from St. George, Utah, were happily expecting their first child. Sharry, the soon-to-be mother, was basking in the glow of motherhood.
“She was always stroking her tummy and telling him how much she loved him,” Buhanan-Decker recalled of his late wife.
On June 16, the couple’s joy quickly turned into fear when Sharry Buhanan-Decker had to undergo an emergency C-section.
Sadly, she passed away in the hospital, never meeting her newborn son, JJ. Jared believes that she may have suffered from an amniotic fluid embolism, which is quite rare but not unheard of.
Left to raise his new little one on his own, Jared grappled with creating a sense of family without his beloved wife.
“It didn’t feel like home without Sharry,” he confessed. “My home has always been wherever Sharry was, and she wasn’t there.”
Jared tried to settle into life as a single dad. When he came across his wife’s music files, his heart quickened with the thought of being able to listen to her voice again. His heart quickly sank, however, when he was unable to open the files.
A shot in the dark, Jared turned to the Reddit community, a website where internet users connect, collaborate, and sometimes solve problems. Within hours, his plea was answered in an overwhelming way.
Strangers made sure Jared could hear his wife’s voice by delivering the corrected files to him in several Reddit messages, along with heartfelt condolences.
“I was just blown away by how quick people were to respond. I was hoping, you know, one or two people would but, you know, hundreds of comments and well wishes,” Jared said.
In addition, dozens of complete strangers sent him the fixed files. Sharry’s voice now fills the Buhanan-Decker household regularly, and JJ lights up when he hears his mother’s voice.
“I was blown away by the kindness of complete strangers,” Buhanan-Decker said. “I obviously wish I didn’t need it, but tragedies can really bring out the love and compassion in everyone.”
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