Tinley Park woman helps others who suffered heartbreaking loss of a baby

What do you do when the most beautiful, blessed event ends in tragedy? A woman from southwest suburban Tinley Park turned that tragedy into compassion.

Colleen Connelly and her husband, Pete, have lived through the best of times and the worst. When Colleen was 24 weeks pregnant, they learned they would never be bringing their baby home.

As they awaited their first child, everything was going well for Colleen and Pete, until suddenly, it wasn't.

"That morning, I had just gone to the doctor myself. I figured it was just another ultrasound, and then I went in, and the tech said, 'I'll be right back,' and it was a very awkward kind of interaction," Colleen said. "I was just kind of hoping everything would be okay, but then the doctor comes in and says, 'I'm sorry, your baby doesn't have a heartbeat anymore.'"

Catherine Frances Connelly had died in the womb.

"Our OB called us and said, 'Unfortunately, you still have to deliver, because you're so far along," Colleen said.

Colleen said the team at Advocate Christ Medical Center was remarkable.

"When she was born, you know, the doctors do everything, and they put her in an outfit that we kind of already had brought for her," Colleen said. "They actually encourage pictures, which, at the time, you're like, 'How could anyone take a picture of these moments?' But it's true, you're never going to get these moments back."

It all happened so fast, there was no time to grieve.

"We went to the hospital, I believe it was a Tuesday. She came Wednesday morning, and we stayed until about noon or so with her on Wednesday, and then we had to plan a funeral, too. So, yeah, it was a lot," Colleen said.

Colleen keeps a curio cabinet full of mementos of a baby loved in her all too short life and beyond.

"We've always wanted to keep Catherine's legacy alive someway, somehow," she said.

Colleen and Pete do that by talking about Catherine to her little sister and brother, Ellie and Christopher.

And Colleen has founded Catherine's Cause, a nonprofit that provides compassion and care packages to families who have lost an infant.

"I want to do something, because I'm always like a doer," she said.

They keepsakes like blankets, key chains, pins, and more to donate to families who have lost an infant. The keepsakes are gathered together in cupcake boxes.

"We just keep donating them back to the hospital so nobody has to leave with empty arms," Colleen said.

Catherine's Cause held its first big crafting event in February. An army of volunteers packed boxes and heard each other's stories.

"People were talking about their babies they had lost recently or years ago," Colleen said. "We have volunteers who say all the time, like, 'I'm willing to talk if they need me.'"

Colleen said that need never really goes away.

"I will never get over it. I always say you never learn to get over the grief. All you learn to do is kind of build a life around it, because time doesn't heal. Everything doesn't happen for a reason all the time. Those filler statements are very hard," she said.

But Colleen believes there is hope, and she wants Catherine's Cause to be a light in the darkness.

"I just hope that everybody knows that there's a community, and it's a safe space where you can openly and freely say your baby's name and talk about your baby and know that they're not alone," she said.

Because of privacy concerns, Colleen doesn't know who gets the care packages, but she calls them gifts between friends who just haven't met yet.