"Helping families and communities prevent and cope with infant and young child loss, one baby step at a time"

We want to share the story of Jaxton Daniel Plathe written by his dad, Daniel Plathe.  Jaxton is one of our Angel Babies John’s Charity has the honor of remembering!  We thank Jaxton’s family for sharing his story with us.  Unfortunately this us a situation that happens far too often and leaves loved ones with an unimaginable broken heart.  We want you to join us in celebrating this angel’s life!  As it comes up on the 6th Anniversary of Jaxton getting his angel wings, we hope you take the time to read this precious boy’s story and enjoy his adorable pictures!

Jaxton Daniel Plathe
December 29, 2008 – June 2, 2009

December 29, 2008
Jaxton was born via C-section at 38 weeks gestation by Dr. Tami Fahnlander at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, IA at 1:29pm in the afternoon on Monday, 12/29/2008. He was 6 lbs. 12.6 oz. at birth and was 19 3/4 inches long.  He was put on some oxygen initially while in the nursery, but only for a few hours until his breathing settled down. He was as healthy as a horse and just perfect as could be! He also had great Apgar scores of 9 and 9. We were so excited that he was finally with us and we could hold him. He ate well from the get go as evident by pounding down his first 2 oz. bottle! 

May 10, 2009
We took our 1^st and only family vacation to the Wisconsin Dells with the 4 of us (Dan, Misty, Gage & Jaxton). You can see many of the pictures from this trip in our gallery here: http://jaxton-plathe.last-memories.com/.

We left early Sunday morning May 10^th at midnight so Jaxton could sleep thru the night and pulled into The Wilderness resort about 5:30am. We stayed until Thursday, May 14th before coming home. We stopped off at The House on the Rock on our way home too to go thru that. While we were up there we spent most of our time at the water parks they had, but we also went thru a haunted house, played miniature golf, and took a ride on the Wisconsin Duck boats.  Jaxton was a little water bug… he really liked floating around in the tube in the lazy river, and also sitting in the swings they had in the water. We got in him the pool with us and he was having a blast, as was everyone else. We are so thankful that we didn’t wait to take that family trip together and have those experiences that we’ll always remember. Many of the video clips and pictures we have of Jaxton are from this vacation we took. We did so much with baby Jaxton in the short 5 months and 4 days we had with him, and for that we are very thankful.

June 2, 2009
Jaxton passed away on June 2^nd, 2009 at his in-home day care in Grimes, IA. 

I dropped him off at his daycare at approximately 8:30am, just like any other day. I can still remember handing him off to the daycare provider, and waving goodbye to him, as he smiled. Everything seemed perfect…

 Jaxton had his 12:30pm bottle and then was laid down for a nap at about 1:00pm. He was the youngest of the 5 children the daycare provider watched, the other 4 being all girls. The daycare provider checked on him a couple of times during his nap and he was fine. When she checked on him again at approximately 3:05pm, Jaxton had stopped breathing.  CPR was administered and 911 called. Paramedics were never able to revive him. Preliminary results were pointing towards SIDS, however the cause of death will not be official until all other tests are completed… or basically when they can’t find anything else wrong, then SIDS is given as a cause of death.

I will never forget getting that call on Tuesday, June 2^nd, 2009 from my wife while I was at work. My wife’s job & mine were very close to Grimes, but that day I happened to have my vehicle in the shop for some service. Misty was frantic/crying and I could hardly understand her, but she was on her way to the daycare, and said she had gotten a call from our daycare provider that Jaxton wasn’t breathing. I immediately panicked myself… I had no vehicle, so grabbed a co-worker and he drove me from work to the daycare. Before we even took a turn to head down the street I could see the paramedics / ambulance / police all in front of the house and I jumped out of the vehicle as it was moving to run the rest of the way. When I arrived at the front door they were wheeling Jaxton out on a gurney and pumping oxygen into him via a pump… I thought he was just unconscious, but the truth of the matter was he was already gone. There was nothing that could be done. 

Nothing can prepare you for the loss of your child. Life is just humming along as perfect as could be, and the next thing you know it’s turned upside down. We raced downtown to the hospital with the help of a neighbor of our daycare provider, as we weren’t allowed to ride in the ambulance with Jaxton which was even more unsettling to not know what was going on. When we arrived at Mercy Hospital downtown we were allowed into the emergency room where a team of Dr.’s and nurses were frantically doing everything they could to revive him. Misty & I were screaming at Jaxton to come back… to wake up… but he was gone. Once they stopped trying to revive him and declared that he had passed away, we were able to hold him for a while on our own. That is a feeling no one should ever have to experience. Holding your child after he/she has passed away… feeling absolutely helpless.

June 5, 2009
Saturday, June 5^th, 2009 was the day of Jaxton’s funeral.  We had never even planned how we would want our end of life to be handled let alone our children (buried, cremated, funeral arrangements, etc.).  Parents should never outlive their children. We just couldn’t decide and didn’t want to have him be buried in a cemetery plot by himself, in a town we had only lived in for 4 years so we decided to have him cremated and have him at home with us eternally. He now rests in our son Tyce’s room to watch over him as his guardian angel. Our son Tyce was born on 10/6/2010, and we named him “Tyce Jaxton Plathe” to honor his big brother.

Below is what was written for his funeral:

Jaxton Daniel Plathe was granted his angel wings on June 2nd, 2009.  Although, his life was so short, those who were touched by him are sure to understand and agree that he was an angel from the beginning.

Bias is often a common trait of parents and close family members of their beloved baby, but it would be hard to argue that Jaxton was anything short of perfection.  Although he wasn’t with us long enough to speak his first words in his short time on this earth, Jaxton portrayed an uncanny ability to communicate his joy and love through his precious smiles and little baby laugh that would just tug at your heart.

With Jaxton’s passing we are reminded that his life is one to be celebrated.  Although, we will miss him immensely every day, we thank God for the 5 months and 4 days we were given with him. He will forever remain in our hearts and our fondest of memories. 

The level of grief we all feel simply cannot be put into words. When words fail, tears flow but through those tears there is an undeniable language.  Through our grief we portray our love and gratitude for Jaxton’s short time with us. Jaxton you will forever be in our hearts.

We love you baby boy.  Mommy & Daddy will miss you, and we will never forget you.  We will be reunited someday, and then we can all be a family once again…

OUR BABY JAXTON
 In a baby castle, just beyond our eyes, 
Our baby plays with angel toys that money cannot buy. 
Who are we, to wish that you had known this world of strife? 
Now, play on Jaxton, you have eternal life. 
At night, when all is silent and sleep forsakes our eyes 
We’ll hear your tiny voice. 
Your little hands caress us, so tenderly and sweet 
We’ll breathe a prayer and close our eyes 
And embrace you in our sleep. 
Feelings we will treasure, 
Sometimes they’ll make us sad, 
Because, our little Baby Jaxton
We are still your Mom and Dad

GOODNIGHT AND BLESS YOU.

Jaxton is survived by his loving parents Daniel A. and Misty M. Plathe and his brother Gage of Grimes, IA, whom they never took for granted the miracle they had in their arms.

Grandparents: Ann & Charlie Sessions of Osceola, IA, Linda & Jerry Smith of Osceola, IA, Jeannie Vakulskas of Sioux City, IA, and Jerry Plathe Sr. of Des Moines, IA

Great Grandparents: Jack & Margie Nish of Osceola, IA, Viola Smith of Osceola, IA, and Charles Vakulskas of Sioux City, IA

Aunts & Uncles: Jeremy Smith of Des Moines, IA, Jerry & Gina Plathe of Sioux City, IA and Lee Hansen of Sioux City, IA.

Cousins: Aaron and Lexi Plathe of Sioux City, IA

Jaxton is also remembered by so many other family members and friends whom shared this precious little boy’s life.

On Tuesday, July 21^st, 2009, we got a call from the Polk county Medical Examiner’s office and they said that the Medical Examiners report was finished and it was official… the cause of death was ‘undetermined’ and consistent with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). This was 7 weeks to the day of his death. This really wasn’t a surprise to us, but it was still disheartening to learn that we most likely will ‘never know’ exactly what it is that caused him to suddenly die while sleeping during his nap on Tuesday, June 2^nd, 2009.