West Columbia City Councilman and attorney, Joseph Dickey, and wife, Kiosha Dickey are announced Friday that they have started a non-profit in honor of their daughter, Autumn Rei Dickey. Autumn was stillborn on September 16, 2021, at 8:18 pm at the Medical University of South Carolina. 

The mission of the organization will be to help support and strengthen pediatric palliative care programs in hospitals throughout South Carolina. 

The newly-launched website provides resources for families coping with loss, tells the Dickey family’s story and allows people to become “Way Makers” through financial donations.

Kiosha Dickey, also an attorney and owner of local business Sincerely, Ki, stated “Sometimes, things don’t go as planned. Sometimes, our prayers aren’t answered in the way that we’d hoped. Sometimes, we must face devastating circumstances that shake our world. No family is prepared to lose their child. Our family never thought we’d endure three miscarriages and one stillbirth. The pain is immeasurable, but there is hope in navigating grief.”

This is the Dickey family’s first time going public with the loss of their daughter and their journey to conceive. But they are not alone. 

According to the Center for Disease Control, one pregnancy in 100 at 20 weeks of pregnancy and later is affected by stillbirth, and each year about 24,000 babies are stillborn in the United States.Your donations will By becoming a Way Maker, you will help our organization provide hospitals with items that allow them to create mementos for families experiencing difficult losses: Your donations  By becoming a Way Maker, you will help our organization provide hospitals with items that allow them to create mementos for families experiencing difficult losses:

• – canvases, ink, and paint to capture footprints and handprints
• – tissues
• – infant hats
• – blankets
• – geode stones
• – small glass memory stones
• – heartbeat recording stuffed animals

In addition, your generous donation will also provide funeral/cremation financial assistance to families who have lost a baby to Trisomy 18. As well as provide hospitals with “Cuddle Cots,” an in-room cooling unit that is disguised inside a bassinet or Moses’ basket. Cuddle cots “give families the gift of time, allowing for their” angel baby “to be at their bedside during their hospital stay.”

To make a donation supporting South Carolina families dealing with the loss of a child, visit autumns-way.com. 

You can also follow the Dickey’s family journey on Facebook and Instagram.