Record Attendance at Third Annual UH Remembrance Walk Honoring Children Gone Too Soon
- Gremi
- Jul 21
- 5 min read
CLEVELAND, Ohio – More than 1,400 people gathered at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo on Saturday morning for the third annual Remembrance Walk, hosted by University Hospitals’ Joanie & Tom Adler Bereavement Programs. The event brings together families, friends, and UH staff to honor the memory of babies and children who have passed away, offering a supportive space for grief and healing.
“This is actually our third year doing this event, which is amazing,” said Allison Remy, MSSA, LISW, the Joanie and Tom Adler Endowed Director of Parent Bereavement Programs. “From our first year at 477 people, last year at 768 people, to this year we got 1,400 people registered and more people that showed up.”
The walk coincides with International Bereaved Parents Awareness Month, providing a safe and compassionate environment for families to remember and celebrate their children. The day began with registration, a remembrance program led by Rainbow and MacDonald Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ethan Leonard, and a reading of names by chaplains Matthew Bauhof and Joanie Webster. The one-mile walk around the zoo followed, with participants receiving wristbands granting access to the zoo for the remainder of the day.
“Losing a child is incredibly isolating. Your world is ending, and you feel alone,” Remy said. “One of the best things about this event is just knowing you’re not alone. You come to something like this, and you see the opposite. You are not alone.”
Families took part in legacy-building activities, including quilt square and scrapbook projects to memorialize their children. The walk is supported by The Auxiliary of University Hospitals and sponsors such as Ashlie’s Embrace, Mentor TV, and The Callan Phillip SIDS Research Fund, ensuring the event remains free to participants.
Another heartfelt presence at the Remembrance Walk was A Touch of Teddy, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting families who have experienced pregnancy or infant loss. Founded by Elizabeth Michalski in memory of her firstborn son, Theodore “Teddy” Russell Michalski, the organization provides teddy bear ornaments to loss families as a symbol of comfort and remembrance during the holidays.
Elizabeth’s journey to creating A Touch of Teddy began after a devastating loss in October 2018. “After fighting infertility and other medical issues, we were overjoyed to be pregnant,” she shared. “But my water broke just a few days shy of 22 weeks. Teddy fought beyond doctors’ expectations, but he was born sleeping on October 6th, 2018, at 11:58 PM.” Teddy weighed 15 ounces and was 11 inches long. “He had the most beautiful tiny toes and a sweet little nose. Though he’s not here physically, he is very much part of our family. We talk about him daily, and we make sure he is included in our holiday traditions,” Elizabeth said.
Inspired by Teddy, Elizabeth began creating teddy bear ornaments to help other grieving families honor their babies, especially during the holidays. These ornaments can be ordered year-round for a small cost, but they are free for loss families during October, which is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. “We give families the opportunity to share their story when requesting a bear,” Elizabeth explained. “We share those stories on our social media pages to remind families they are not alone. Every story and every baby matters, no matter how small.”
Kimberly Tramsak, who lost her daughter Gracie Ann Bernice Tramsak-Kolat to stillbirth at 35 weeks, described the event as profoundly healing. “It’s just nice being together with other people that have gone through what you have went through,” Tramsak said. “Being through any loss is hard, but knowing that you’re going to deliver a baby that is not going to come out crying, that is not something that you’re going to look forward to. A lot of people say ‘God created another angel’ but it’s like we want our angel; we want our baby.”
Tramsak shared how University Hospitals’ bereavement program helped her preserve her daughter’s memory. “When I delivered her, Allison came into the room, she brought me a box with stuff to make footprints, and handprints and to cut Gracie’s hair so we had a keepsake of everything for the rest of our lives,” she said.
Among the families attending was the Munk family, walking in memory of their daughter Adelaide “Addie” Munk, who passed away at 14 after a six-year battle with pediatric brain cancer. Addie was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma at age 8 in 2019 and fought courageously for nearly six years before her passing this past January. Her mother, Mandy Zaenger, said the walk was a meaningful way to connect with others who understand their grief. “The people, staff and other Rainbows Babies and Children families have become like family to us,” Zaenger shared. “We were really excited when we received the invitation to be included in the walk. It allowed us to have the reminder that we are not alone when it comes to grieving the loss of our child. We were able to connect with old friends and made many new friends on that one mile walk in support of all of our angel babies.”
The event’s foundation stems from Joanie and Tom Adler’s personal loss of a grandchild in Boston nearly 20 years ago. “We lost a grandson; a full-term stillborn,” said Tom Adler. “When that happened, there were no grievance programs or anything, and we sat around the radiators at the hospital in Boston, where we were, and it was a terrible situation. So we thought to ourselves that someday we wanted to be able to set up some kind of a grievance program for people like us.”
In April, the Adlers donated $3.5 million to expand the UH bereavement services, which now reach hundreds of families each year. “Obviously the walk is a spectacular thing and it brings grieving people together and allows them to share their emotions in a way they otherwise wouldn’t be able to,” Adler said. “But let’s not forget what’s happening when this isn’t happening. There are hundreds of women every year who have miscarriages, and it’s a terrible sad thing to have happen, especially if you’re carrying at like 6 months or something like that; and nobody has ever thought about trying to provide a program that will take care of their feelings.”
As the walk concluded, the focus remained on connection, support, and community healing. “Looking around and seeing this, all of the people coming together, makes you know that you’re not alone; that’s the biggest thing,” said Joanie Adler.
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