A heartbroken mother is sharing a warning with other parents after she lost her twins to a tragic accident in their family’s home. Sadie Myers and her husband, Don Starr, had no idea the cedar toy chest in their 4-year-old twins' bedroom posed such a threat until they discovered the twins had suffocated after falling asleep inside.
Myers shared a gut-wrenching post on Facebook as a tribute to daughter Aurora and son Kellan, who died in each other’s arms. The mother asked for prayers for her family and begged anyone with a large toy chest to “destroy it immediately!”
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The twins went to bed as usual.
Myers explained that her husband put their children to bed while she was at work and then went to sleep himself. When she got home, she checked on them, and everything was fine. She had some dinner and went to bed, having no idea what was about to transpire. Myers assumed the children got up at some point to play and then got tired and decided to go back to sleep.
“Friday night the weird place they decided to snuggle up and go back to sleep was in their cedar toy chest that we use to store all their stuffed animals.. They pulled out all but a couple stuffed animals, I guess they left some to keep it comfy in there, then they laid inside head to toe with one arm each over their twin and I’m assuming said ‘good night kell kell’ and ‘night night sissy’…" she wrote.
"Sometime during their sleep one of them must have moved or kicked during a dream and it caused the lid of this old wooden cedar chest to close," she continued. "Something I did not know and I’m sure many others don’t know is that most wooden toy chests once closed are AIR TIGHT and also sound proof. So as they slept, all snuggled up together, they slowly ran out of oxygen within a couple of hours and passed away. They never even knew it was happening. There was no sudden gasp for air, it was a very slow transition from sleep to passing on.”
When the family awoke on Saturday, they couldn’t find the twins.
The mother of four wrote that her older boys were awake but the littles were nowhere to be seen. They all searched, and one of the big brothers found the twins.
Unaware of what had happened, he said, “Mommy I found them! They are so silly just sleeping in the toy box.”
Myers knew within seconds, however, that her babies were gone. “It makes no sense to me and never will,” she wrote.
The pain she's feeling is unfathomable.
Myers wrote in her Facebook post that there is nothing like losing a child, but grieving two babies at once is unimaginable. She said she is working through the pain for her older boys.
“Not many will know the pain of losing two children at the same time and losing them in a way that makes no sense, but I have to believe that something in this universe chose them specifically, maybe to protect them from some future tragedy, or maybe because their souls were too perfect for this world, I don’t know, but everything in me hopes that I will know someday, because not knowing hurts too bad to keep living," she wrote.
"What I do know is that I NEED to live for my two amazing big boys, and I WILL, I will make it my sole purpose to give them the most amazing lives, to not let this cause any life long damage to their mental state.”
The father is equally heartbroken.
Starr posted on Facebook that he hesitated to share the news in hopes that it was all a horrible dream.
“I guess I was waiting to make sure this isn’t an extremely long, specifically horrific nightmare. But since it’s just getting harder everyday and it seems pretty public now anyhow, here goes: My beautiful family was stricken by tragedy — the loss of our beautiful perfect twins," he wrote.
"Please send all of the love, strength and good energy you can muster up to Sadie, my beautiful big boys and me — and of course the rest of the family, who have been a rock for us and are more loved and appreciated than I can express," he added. "Hug and kiss those kids for me — even the grown-up ones. I love you all.”
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Family and friends have surrounded the family with love.
Deanna Myers, Sadie Myers’ sister, created a GoFundMe page for the family. She wrote that her sister and brother-in-law are loving parents facing profound grief.
“They were the kind of parents any good parent could be envious of. They both worked full time jobs, one in the morning and one in the evening so they would never have to leave the children alone with a sitter," she wrote on the page. "I know they were always exhausted but they were still able to be so present and so loving with each of their four children, every single day, no exceptions. They’ve always worked long, very demanding hours and their jobs are not easy but they never complained they did whatever they could to give those kids the best lives possible and planned on doing it forever.”
“I am so saddened by this tragedy. As a mom of three children, my heart aches for the parents and siblings of these beautiful twins," a donor wrote. "May they find comfort in the brief, but beautiful, time that they shared together."
“May God heal your pain during these difficult times. Two ANGELS IN HEAVEN, Lord have mercy,” a friend prayed.
“My heart breaks for what you as a family are going thru. Your words of your 2 Angels last moments together show just how much they were and ALWAYS will be LOVED,” someone else shared.
The fundraiser has received more than $25,000 in donations thus far, surpassing its $10,000 goal.
