Out of the Ashes 5k & Remembrance Walk

Hannah Kathleen Facinoli – Oct. 23, 2019
James Franklin Facinoli – Oct. 14, 2020
Dylan Ray Facinoli – June 12, 2023
Ivy Rose Facinoli – Jan. 12, 2024

We walk and run in support of Out of the Ashes Foundation and in memory of these four Facinoli babies – who we miss desperately – but whose little lives continue live on in big ways. Join our team to link arms with our family, our friends and the many Charlotte families who are being served by this organization.
 
Hannah Kathleen
Hannah was born sleeping at 29 weeks on October 23, 2019. Just two days earlier, Brittany had not felt Hannah's normal movement for over a day and went in for monitoring. When she went in, Hannah's heart was beating a strong 139 bpm, but because of decreased movement, they sent us to the hospital for a BPP and additional monitoring. Somewhere over the course of the next few hours, and only minutes after seeing her alive and moving on the ultrasound screen, Hannah died. Brittany was induced that night and after a grueling 55 hours, we met and held Hannah Kathleen. 3 lbs, 1 oz, 17" long – a head full of dark beautiful hair. You can read her full story and see pictures here.
 
James Franklin Facinoli
When we found out we were pregnant again, we had a mixed bag of emotions. Just getting to a place of mentally being prepared to walk through another pregnancy took a lot of time, emotional energy, and prayer. We were trying to find joy in a new life while simultaneously grieving our daughter, who should be in our arms right now. We shouldn't be starting this all over again – yet there we were. We treasured every day we had with this new little life – taking pictures each week starting at week 4. We knew that every day was a gift, and that bringing this baby home was not a right or a guarantee. We told our friends and family immediately after finding out we were pregnant, and endless prayers for this child went up every day that we carried him. Over the course of the next few weeks, hope started making its way back into our hearts and minds as we anticipated bringing a baby home. Unfortunately, this was not James' story. At our 7 week ultrasound, there was no heartbeat, and a week later, there was no growth. Our son had died without cause or sign, and we would face a D/C on October 14, 2020, and another postpartum recovery without a child in our arms –  just one week before hosting our first ever Out of the Ashes 5k. Through genetic testing, we learned he was a boy, and had no known genetic or chromosomal issues. Read his full story here.
 
Dylan Ray Facinoli
The following year – in September of 2021, we brought home our son Seth after an anxiety-ridden 9 months, 36 hours of labor with no progress and an unanticipated C-section. But getting to bring Seth home brought on overwhelming feeling of joy, hope, relief, and redemption to our family. Although we were overjoyed to be able to raise two children, we still had a void – which we expect will always be there – and longed to grow our family. In the early summer of 2023, we learned that we were expecting again. But we held our breath this time and told no one. I was so sick already, which was different from all of my prior pregnancies. But I was thankful for symptoms, as it felt like that was an indicator of a healthy pregnancy. I went in for blood work to test my HCG levels at nearly 7 weeks which looked great, and again 2 days later. The second test level had not doubled as expected... So rather than another blood test, we requested an ultrasound. I was over 7 weeks by this point and yet again, we stared at a screen with no heartbeat... They called Dylan a "blighted ovum" and the tech told me that I hadn't lost a baby – just a pregnancy. The doctor said there had likely never been any fetal tissue and when we requested genetic testing after the D/C to learn the gender, she said she was sure nothing would show up... because there had been "no baby." But we insisted, and sure enough, we learned that we had had another boy – 3 in a row – with no reason for his passing.
 
Ivy Rose Facinoli
We didn't expect to get pregnant again so quickly. We had even been discussing closing the door on growing our family after our third loss. But our desire for raising a third child was impossible to shake. And we desperately wanted a happy ending to this chapter of our lives. We were afraid of what others would think when we got pregnant again. "Why are they doing this to themselves?" "Can't they be happy with the kids they have?" "Isn't enough enough?" "Can't they take 'no' for an answer?" We considered all of these questions, too... And many of them kept me up at night when I started to feel early symptoms of this pregnancy. We told only a select few people so they could share in our joys and fears together, but waited to tell most of our friends and family after our first ultrasound. We decided not to get blood work and to wait until I was 8 weeks to go in for an ultrasound. To our utter surprise, there she was, a beautiful baby with a strong heartbeat. Honestly, we expected silence. We had grown so familiar with and even expectant of bad news. This was the absolute best kind of shock, and we rode the wave of pleasant disbelief all day long. We took home our ultrasound photos that marked "BABY!" in a little envelope that said "Baby on the way" in our nurse's handwriting. We sat through an (honestly, painful) appointment with the nurse navigator who walked us through what to expect at the delivery and resources for pediatricians and lactation consultants. (Yes, they did all of this at our 8 week appt. with a parents who had 3 losses under their belts). We wanted out of there, but were trying to savor the little waves of hope that these things could really apply to us in just 7 months. We decided to tell our family at Christmas, because after all, my other early losses never came with a heartbeat at that first appointment. So while a later loss was definitely still possible – and we knew it all too well – this milestone was a good sign. Just over a week later at 9 weeks, after just telling all of our family about our new baby on the way, I went in for a transfer appointment at a new OBGYN. The midwife offered an ultrasound (which wasn't scheduled) and I jumped at the opportunity to see the baby again. There was no tech there that day, so she offered to do it herself. She couldn't quite see what she wanted to see via an abdominal ultrasound, so she scheduled one at another location with a tech where Theo came to meet me. Theo had a pit in his stomach, but I was not concerned. I had this peace – overflowing really – like I was sure the baby was fine. But my intuition was wrong... One week after I had seen a beautiful, strong heartbeat, we met stillness again. Ivy Rose – a girl with Turner Syndrome, we learned from a 3rd D/C in January 2024. This baby was the first to give us a reason for her passing. Some babies with this diagnosis go on to have a normal pregnancy and live a pretty normal life. But most die in utero – many in the later trimesters. As devastated as we were to lose her now, we felt spared from another late-term loss. 
 
Ways your money supports this ministry:

• Creating and shipping gifts and cards to bereaved parents
• Funding their Medical Bill Relief Grants, which cover medical bills associated with loss
• Facilitating monthly Community Groups
• Hosting events for families to connect and share their stories
• Launching and maintaining a therapist-led Mentorship Program