Little angel … Thinking of the beloved baby girl she lost gives Caroline Springs resident Lyon D’Souza the strength to help others in a similar position. 65659 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By Natalie Gallenti
WHEN Lyon D’Souza lost her precious baby girl in a house fire, she didn’t think life could go on.
Little Sarah Catherine was only six months old when she passed away and Ms D’Souza can still recall the day vividly.
“I woke up in the hospital and I was badly burned and I was told my daughter was gone,” she told Star.
“I walked out of there with only the clothes on my back.
“I had to start from scratch. But I decided I could either wallow in my misery or have the strength to continue.”
The Caroline Springs resident remembered the feeling of utter grief and isolation and having no-one to talk to.
“People don’t know what to say to you. There was no counselling. I was just sent home with some papers.”
Ten years on and the single mum is helping other people who have been affected by the loss of a child.
Ms D’Souza volunteers for the Small Miracles Foundation, a non-profit organisation that provides free family crisis phone lines for people that have lost a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth or prematurity.
The foundation also provides a range of other free advice and support for pregnant woman and new parents.
Ms D’Souza is presently working on the group’s Light a Candle initiative, where parents and other family members that have suffered the loss of a child can light a free virtual candle commemorating their loved one.
“I’m trying to help other people because I have been through a bad time.
“I felt lost and devastated. One minute I had a healthy baby and the next minute she was gone.
“All I wanted was my daughter back. Nobody knew how to cope with it.
“If this foundation had been around then, it would have helped me a lot.”
She said even her son Adam, who loved his baby sister so much that he took her to show and tell at school, didn’t have any counselling and took a long time to recover from the loss.
“I think of her as being an angel. Those six months were the happiest of my life and if I didn’t have her and if I didn’t lose her, I wouldn’t be doing this and helping people.”
Ms D’Souza said many women who had miscarriaged in the 1960s and 1970s had never experienced proper closure and the chance to light a candle meant they could acknowledge that a child existed.
“It doesn’t matter how long ago it was.
“People just need a listening ear.”
The foundation needs 120 virtual candles by the end of June to gain important sponsorship. To light a candle or speak to a counsellor call 1300 266 643.
