A mom has opened up about losing her 'precious angel' and why it's so important parents sleep in a bedroom on the same floor as their children.
On February 28, 2016, Keri Volmert and her husband put their youngest child Sammie to bed in her nursery in their home in Aledo, Texas.
Little did they know it would be the last time they placed the one-and-a-half-year-old in her 'beautiful crib that was made for a princess'.
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In a post to a Facebook page made in memory of Sammie Joyce Volmert, Keri explains she got Sammie to say good night to her Dad and big brother before carrying her upstairs and popping her to bed.
Keri recalls Sammie crying 'a little bit' but walking out of the room 'knowing she would be asleep within two minutes as she always was'.
"I never would have imagined that would be the last time I would see her alive," the mom adds.
The next morning, she immediately knew something was wrong when she heard her husband 'screeching' in 'desperation' and 'panic' after he went upstairs to get Sammie up for the day.
Keri's husband rushed down to meet her with Sammie in his arms, the mom having 'froze[n]' in panic.
He then shouted: "I think Sammie is dead."
Just 'hours before' Sammie had been 'so feisty and full of life' but devastatingly, at the emergency room '50 minutes later' she was pronounced dead.
Keri explains Sammie passed away as a result of hyperthermia - an elevated body temperature.
"Even though our upstairs thermostat was set on 72 degrees, the heater was blasting upstairs and it felt like a sauna," the post continues. "The temperature registered 99 degrees on our thermostat which was as high as it could go (meaning it was over 100 degrees.) Sammie died of hyperthermia."
Keri says doctors think Sammie 'never woke up or made a sound' because 'until age three to five' children aren't able to 'regulate their own body temperature as older children and adults are able to do'.
And the mom notes despite their 'shock and disbelief' at how such a tragedy could've occurred, there are similar cases out there.
The Facebook page in Sammie's name subsequently hopes to raise important awareness, Keri noting she'd read about the dangers of 'blankets' and 'stuffed animals' in books, but not about the dangers of thermostats and heating.
"There is a cheap temperature monitor I could have had - would have had If I had heard of even one instance where a child could die by a heater not turning off like it is supposed to," she added, noting how their three-year-old son Jackson had been sleeping in their bedroom as a result of being scared of 'monsters' in his room, doctors saying he'd have 'likely died' too had he been in his own bedroom.
The mom concludes the post by encouraging people to share their story, resolving: "It might mean everything to another family. [...] We want others (especially those with two-story homes) to hear Sammie's story so that children can be protected and other families spared from the horrific grief we are forced to endure each day."
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact The Compassionate Friends on (877) 969-0010.
Topics: US News, Health, Parenting, Facebook, Social Media
Poppy Bilderbeck