Mothers of Held Angels (MOHA) have had a monumental year. Within their first six months of becoming incorporated and a 501(c)3, three moms have led the charge in ensuring that moms in the Greater Houston Area go home with support when they do not get to go home with their baby. They have launched a podcast channel, hosted their first social gathering, provided training for hospital nurses, donated grief care boxes, and hosted their first fundraiser.
In sharing their babies’ stories, co-founders, Hollyn Keith, Brittany Kemp, and Anna Noto realized that there was an obvious need for a special kind of bereavement care, one starting from the moment a woman finds out that she has lost her baby. With this, the dream of Mothers of Held Angels came to light. MOHA is a place for women to share experience-based advice, provide supportive resources, and to give a “face” to the other side of the darkness by showing other loss-moms that “you are not alone here” says Noto, who lost her daughter Lillian Belle in 2019 just days after a normal prenatal checkup.
“The death of a baby, and the trauma surrounding this unique type of loss, is an unimaginable and indescribable type of pain. MOHA raises public awareness of stillbirth and neonatal loss through our MOHA Mom’s Network, The MOHA Podcast Channel, and partnerships with other community organizations” says Kemp, president of MOHA. The mission of MOHA is especially close to Kemp who lost her daughter, Eden Grace just three weeks shy of her due date.
One of their goals is to provide a cooling blanket bereavement cot to as many hospitals as possible, which will extend the amount of time a family has with their baby to make memories. On Tuesday, May 25th, MOHA donated their first CuddleCot to Houston Methodist Downtown. The cot will provide time for families to form an important bond with their baby and help them in dealing with their loss. Representatives, Steve Huggins and Kevin Crute of Flexmort, CuddleCot’s manufacturers based in the United Kingdom, were also on hand to be a part of the big day.
Hollyn Keith, MOHA’s Treasurer, says, “we were able to make the CuddleCot donation through the support of our friends, family, and everyone who contributed to our first annual fundraiser that took place on May 1st at No Label Brewing Co. in Katy, Texas where more than $46,000 was raised”. With these funds and through continued donations, MOHA hopes to donate a CuddleCot to every Houston Area hospital. Keith honors her own son, Carter, who passed away after being born at 24 weeks gestation, by comforting others in their time of grief and spreading awareness about neonatal loss.
Find support, learn how to comfort a loved one going through loss, read more about Eden Grace, Lillian Belle, and Carter, or to donate, visit www.mohanetwork.org/. For more information, contact Brittany Kemp, President, at hello@MOHAnetwork.org.
About Mothers of Held Angels
Mothers of Held Angels (MOHA) is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and was started by three moms who came together in fellowship to support one another through their loss. The mission of MOHA is to create a voice for grieving mothers who have held their baby after their passing, to provide immediate day-of-loss resources and ongoing bereavement support for all family members, and to raise public awareness about the unimaginable pain and heartbreak surrounding stillbirth and neonatal loss.