Important announcement

When I found out my fourth child would be a boy, I began spending a lot of time on BabyCenter's Raising All Boys bulletin board. There I met Amanda, a mom of two boys. She was always cheery and friendly to everyone and never had a negative word to say. When she found out her third child would be a girl, she sadly left the group. I kept in touch with her by email, and then one day in June I got the shocking news that her 21-month old boy, Preston, had died. She sent me the following message, asking me to pass it on, and so I am. It is long, but I feel it is important. My heart still aches for her.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Jewish religion the Bar Mitzvah is the "rite of passage," the crossover from childhood to adulthood; a milestone in a Jewish life. Melissa's son, Andrew, is about to make this rite of passage and in their synagogue all Bar Mitzvahs are asked to create and complete a mitzvah (social action) project. Andrew has chosen to create one close to all of our hearts. He has created the "Preston's Auctions for Awareness" project. All of our families have been touched by the loss of Preston Jack Drummond, who at the age of just 21 months old was lost to Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC). For Andrew's mitzvah project he would like to raise awareness and be able to give a very large monetary donation towards research for SUDC, a Program of the CJ Foundation for SIDS.

Preston's mother Amanda, states "Preston was the greatest joy in my life. He loved everyone and was so full of life. Always blowing kisses and waving. He has the biggest brown eyes, beautiful smile, curly wild brown hair, chubbiest cheeks, full belly laugh, chubby, chubby hands he is perfect in every way. We call him Moose cause he was always such a chunk so many rolls. I miss him every moment of every day." Preston also leaves behind his father, Brandon, big brother, Dakota, and baby sister, Alivia.

The SUDC organization has been developed to provide a centralized resource for information, support and advocacy. It serves families and professionals affected by the tragedy of SUDC, and promotes awareness of SUDC in communities.

SUDC is the sudden and unexpected death of a child over the age of twelve months, which remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation is conducted. SUDC is a diagnosis of exclusion - given when all known and possible causes of death have been ruled out. SUDC is not a new phenomenon, but it is very rare. Its incidence is approximately 1 death per 100,000 children. In comparison, the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is 50 times more common, being approximately 1 death per 2000 live born infants. It is not surprisingly therefore that there is very little known in the medical literature about SUDC.

Andrew is asking for people to donate items to the project to be sold on eBay in which 100% of the proceeds will go directly to the SUDC Organization/CJ Foundation for SIDS in Preston's honor. All items are welcome. Use your imagination. Items may include but are not limited to: video games, handbags, blenders, luggage, linens, and electronics. You name it and we can try to auction it!!! Everyone has something they aren't using. Once you have chosen your item or items for donation contact us immediately so we can work with you to get these items to us or onto the eBay auction site.

Monetary donations are also very welcome for this project. Checks can be made payable to Preston's Auction for Awareness/CJF and be mailed to:

Melissa Weinberger
18944 Concerto Drive
Boca Raton, FL 33498

Please visit the following websites to be touched by Preston and SUDC the way we all were:

http://preston-drummond.memory-of.com/about.aspx
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/w/wildboy2/
http://www.sudc.org

The eBay site is slowly starting to get up and running and can be visited at:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZprestonsangel

Andrew may have started this project, but we plan to keep this going forever because Preston will always remain in our hearts and his soul will live on forever. So we ask that if you find it in your heart, please forward this to people you feel would want to contribute to such and important cause. Together, we can prevent another tragic loss.