Losing a child is one of the most painful things a parent can experience. It doesn’t seem natural to say goodbye to something so precious and loved.
It seems contrary to the cycle of nature.
It doesn’t matter whether the child is an adult, a teenager, a toddler, or a newborn, when the death of a child occurs, the grieving is unimaginable and the pain is immense.
These emotions are what Valerie Watts was experiencing during the summer of 2013.
Valerie, a mother from Cokato, Minnesota, had been pregnant with a little boy.
By all accounts, the pregnancy was normal and the baby was healthy. Unfortunately, however, this changed during the final few days.
Valerie could sense that something was wrong, but she likely brushed these emotions off as unreasonable concerns or paranoia.
She tells Fox 9, “All week I knew. He wasn’t moving as much. I was very nervous.”
Unfortunately, the baby, who she would name Noah, is born stillborn as a result of his umbilical cord being pinched in the womb. Valerie is understandably devastated.
The little boy’s room had been prepared with little clothes, his crib had been waiting for his tiny body. Despite these objects acting as reminders of her loss, the mother was not ready to part with them yet.
One year later, while holding a garage sale, Valerie is approached by Gerald Kumpala, a fellow Cokato resident who owns a workshop on the outskirts of town.
His newest hobby? Transforming bed headboards into beautiful benches.
Unaware of the events that had transpired the year before, Gerald asks Valerie about the crib.
She tells Fox 9:
“When he asked me if I was selling [the crib], that he made benches, I hesitated.” She continues, “His wife was there looking through my garage sale— at some of the baby clothes— and asked how old my son was since I don’t use the crib anymore, and I told her that he had passed in July.”
Gerald and his wife ultimately end up taking the crib— but one week later, they return with a special surprise for the grieving mother.
As a gift to Valerie, Gerald had completely re-purposed the crib into a memorial bench for the late baby Noah.
“I started crying instantly,” the mother tells Fox 9.
Gerald’s random act of kindness, which occurred in 2014, resonates with people around the world, and the story is still making its rounds today.
Although the gift cannot take away the pain of Noah’s loss, it has given the mother a more positive outlook on life. Holding back tears, she says,
“It’s amazing, and there’s good people out there. There’s proof.”
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