For parents who experience the heartbreak of miscarriage, stillbirth, or the loss of an infant, the grief can feel isolating and overwhelming. Through its Still Missed perinatal bereavement program, UChicago Medicine AdventHealth is helping families find support, connection and hope through whole-person care.
The Still Missed program provides support for families who have experienced miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirth, neonatal loss or the death of an infant up to one year of age. Through monthly group meetings, memorial events, one-on-one outreach and ongoing follow-up, Still Missed helps families navigate one of life’s most difficult journeys.
Grounded in UChicago Medicine AdventHealth’s commitment to whole-person care, the program recognizes that healing after pregnancy and infant loss extends beyond physical recovery. Families often need emotional support, spiritual encouragement and opportunities to remember and honor their babies.
“People often ask me what has kept me at AdventHealth for my entire career,” said Sharon Bowers, perinatal bereavement coordinator for the Still Missed program. “Nothing is more valuable to me than not only providing patients with physical care, but also caring for their emotional, mental and spiritual well-being.”
For Bowers, caring for grieving families is both a calling and a ministry.
A nurse at UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Hinsdale for 37 years, Bowers spent much of her career caring for mothers and newborns before taking on leadership of the bereavement program eight years ago. Initially hesitant to step into such emotionally challenging work, she said her faith guided her decision.
“God had different plans,” Bowers said. “He promised to help me care for these grieving families and over the years I have made some of the most beautiful relationships with them.”
Today, Bowers coordinates a comprehensive support system that extends across all four UChicago Medicine AdventHealth hospitals — Bolingbrook, GlenOaks, Hinsdale and La Grange. Physicians, nurses, chaplains and social workers work together to support families experiencing loss in emergency departments, labor and delivery units, mother-baby units, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and other care settings.
Families experiencing loss receive a comfort-focused care bag containing items such as fuzzy socks, hand lotion, lip balm, a knitted prayer square and educational materials about loss and grief.
“We give these bags to show that we care and to bring a little sunshine into an otherwise dark day,” Bowers said.
Support continues long after families leave the hospital. The Still Missed team follows up with many parents for months afterward through phone calls, emails and handwritten notes of encouragement.
One of the program’s cornerstones is its monthly support group, held on the second Monday of each month at UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Hinsdale. Facilitated by Bowers and a hospital chaplain, the gathering provides a safe and welcoming environment where parents can share their experiences and receive support from others who have faced similar loss.
The support group and all memorial events are open to anyone who has experienced the loss of a baby, regardless of whether their care took place within UChicago Medicine AdventHealth. In fact, some families travel significant distances, including two families from Indiana who regularly participate.
Laura Nieland of Elmhurst has been part of the program for four years following the loss of Rhys, a twin son, who died one day after being born in March 2022.
“In the beginning, it was so important for me to go because I wanted to be around people who understood,” Nieland said. “Being in a group of people who had been through the same thing made you feel less alone.”
Nieland’s participation in the group has evolved through the years. She now uses the time as a “celebration of Rhys” and to provide new members with the perspective of someone who has been where they are and understands what they’re experiencing.
Rhys’ surviving twin is Ethan, who spent 98 days in the NICU before coming home. Ethan has an older sister, Madelyn, 6, and now has a younger brother. Jack was born on March 27, 2026, and is known as a “rainbow baby,” the next baby after a loss.
“God’s blessing after a loss,” Bowers said.
Among the most meaningful ways the program supports families is through its annual Butterfly Release, a community event that allows parents, siblings, grandparents and friends to honor their babies, acknowledge their grief and find comfort in community. Held each year in partnership with the Hinsdale Seventh-day Adventist Church, the event celebrates the lives of babies who were gone too soon.
This year’s Butterfly Release, held in June, drew a record 337 attendees — the highest turnout in the event’s 28-year history. The ceremony concluded with the reading of the names of 70 babies, ensuring each child was individually remembered and honored.
“Some parents come every year and their loss was over 15 years ago,” Bowers said. “Others had a very recent loss. It is so good for them to know they are not alone.”
The Butterfly Release is complemented by other annual remembrance events, including a burial service in July at Bronswood Cemetery for miscarried babies under 20 weeks gestation and a Baby Memorial Service in October. Together, these events provide meaningful opportunities for reflection, remembrance and healing.
The program also recently gained another valuable resource through the opening of the Butterfly Room in UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Hinsdale’s new NICU. Generously donated by Janet and Randy Waring, the dedicated bereavement nursery offers families a peaceful, private space to spend precious time with their baby and say goodbye.
Bowers believes these acts of compassion are among the most important aspects of caregiving.
“Our patients remember more how they were treated during a heartbreaking time than how they were treated when everything went well and as expected,” she said. “Caring for our patients in a loving way when their world has been turned upside down is being the hands and feet of Jesus.”
UChicago Medicine AdventHealth