• 

Kate Lola Boe

January 30, 2006 – June 28, 2006

Kate’s Story by Andrea Boe
Grand Forks, ND

Our second child, Kate Lola, was born January 30, 2006, a beautiful and healthy baby girl. We welcomed the new addition to our family. We are the typical American family. Both my husband and I worked full-time, and with two small children, we were busy with everyday life. All that changed on June 28, 2006, just five short months after Kate was born.

It was our usual busy morning. Our oldest daughter didn’t have daycare and my husband was going to stay home with her. Kate went to a different daycare so I was going to drop her off before I went to work. Normally, I dropped both girls off, but that day was different and so I took a different route to work – a route a normally took when I was alone.

I had fed Kate, dressed her in a new cute pink dress, and then my husband placed her in her carseat. I carried her out to our minivan and as soon as I placed her in the backseat (behind the driver’s seat), she was sound asleep. Driving to work, I started thinking about all the things I had to get done at work and home. I somehow got on “autopilot” and arrived at work without dropping Kate off at daycare.

I worked the entire day without ever going back out to my minivan. In my mind, I had dropped Kate off. After work, I went to her daycare to pick her up; only then did I realize she was still in my van. I don’t remember much after that, just people trying to resuscitate her and my agonizing disbelief that I had “forgotten” my own beautiful baby girl.

Nothing has been the same since that day. Our family is slowly healing with the help of our faith, family and friends – yet I am still trying to understand how and why this happened. The truth is, it happens more than people realize. The reason we are sharing our story is to raise awareness so that this will never happen to another family. Please carefully read the safety recommendations on the website and take them to heart.”

Donate in honor of Kate