Colleen Connelly still feels the pain of losing her child during pregnancy, but helping other families get through the same trauma is giving meaning to her loss.
She and her family have been donating baby blankets and other items to Advocate Christ Medical Center’s Labor & Delivery Unit since shortly after she delivered her stillborn baby at 24 weeks there in January 2021. They also give baby clothes and toys to the Courage Program for single mothers at Our Lady at Saint Germaine Catholic. Church in Oak Lawn.
The Connellys formed Catherine’s Cause, which makes and donates items to grieving parents, including blankets, cards, bracelets, keychains and other keepsakes. It is not affiliated with Catherine’s Caring Cause, a South Side nonprofit organization that provides support and resources to asylum seekers and refugees.
Connelly’s group usually meets at the home of her aunt, Karen Wronkiewicz in Orland Park. It will host a Craft Workshop from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 7 at Chicago Agricultural High School, 3857 W. 111th St., a free open house where people can stop by and create or drop off crafted items to donate to families.
“The power of just telling your story — that’s why we built this little community based support and creativity,” Connelly said. “It’s nice because you think about how maybe they haven’t healed. It’s a way to create a safe space for them.”
Terry Keating, Colleen Connelly’s mother, has an active role in Catherine’s Cause, along with her husband, Peter Connelly, and other family members. The Connelly’s live in Tinley Park and have a daughter Eleanor, born in October 2022 and Christopher, born in April 2025.
Colleen Connelly said everything went fine with her pregnancy in 2021 until she was at 24 weeks and her doctor told her there was no heartbeat and her baby had died. An underlying condition, undiagnosed lupus, ended up attacking her fetus, cutting off her oxygen.
The couple had planned to name the baby Eleanor but changed their minds after receiving the devastating news.
“Peter asked, do you mind if we preserve that for a future baby?” Connelly said. “So we found a special name that had some meaning behind it — Catherine, after the patron saint of miscarriages and healing mothers.”
She was in shock but still had to deliver the baby.
But what made it easier was the supportive medical staff and her family by her side, including her husband, mother and mother-in-law. She also was supported by Geanette McCarthy, Advocate Christ Medical Center’s perinatal bereavement coordinator.
McCarthy came into her room to offer her support, explain the loss would never be forgotten, and remove the items that would have been used to deliver a live baby.
When they received the news, the couple were stunned.
“We were just kind of sitting there in silence for a while,” Connelly said.
Dr. Whitney Sigala, her obstetrician, also came.
“She took my hand and said, this is how it’s going to play out from here,” she recalled, adding the doctor has been similarly supportive for her two live births. “She is an angel in disguise.”
McCarthy has been the perinatal bereavement coordinator at Christ for 10 years and has worked at the hospital for 24 years.
“What makes it so difficult to lose a baby for families like the Connellys is that it is so sudden, unexpected and soul-shattering,” McCarthy said. “When I meet these families in the hospital, I sit with them in their pain and offer a supportive presence so they can feel safe to express the raw emotions they are experiencing. I also empower them to make decisions that give them back a sense of control over what is happening to them.”
Family togetherness has also played a big part in the healing in the time since.
Keating, Connelly’s mother, said the loss was hard on all of them.
“Like I always say, it’s hard for a parent to lose a child but twice as hard for a grandparent losing a grandchild and having to watch that child grieve for her,” she said. “But there’s nothing you can do apart from supporting them and loving them.”
Keating said it was a relief to be able to stay with the couple when they lost Catherine and then be with her daughter daily at home. She’s continued her supportive role, helping care for their children when the couple is working.
That family unity, and how the Connellys have turned their tragedy into something that helps people in similar situations has impacted McCarthy.
“What stands out for me about the Connellys is how they took their pain and grief and allowed it to transform itself into a love so beautiful and far-reaching,” she said. “They used the pain of their loss and the beauty and light of Catherine’s brief life as a way to help others going through the same type of loss.”
Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
