On Angels’ Wings retains youngster legacies alive with bereavement images

Every yr, hundreds of fogeys mourn the loss of a kid as a consequence of uncontrollable well being situations. For the previous 13 years, Michelle Cramer and On Angels’ Wings have used bereavement images to seize the lasting legacies of lives ended too quickly.

Cramer based OAW in July 2013, offering a grief restoration program together with honorary gestures for folks and kids alike. What began as a Springfield nonprofit group is now offering companies in a number of different states.

“I’m an empath, and just doing photos and walking away from a family was really really hard for me because I wanted to make sure that they were okay and that they had the support they needed,” Cramer mentioned.

Before turning into concerned in bereavement images, Cramer mentioned, she had been largely oblivious about stillbirths — she had heard tales about her grandmother having stillbirths however figured fashionable medication had solved the difficulty. When she discovered in any other case, she joined a neighborhood stillbirth images group shortly after that she described as “limited in scope. They were just doing photos.” A yr and a half glided by earlier than Cramer stepped away.

Her curiosity in bereavement images remained sturdy 4 years later, when a buddy got here to her a few boy named Logan who was battling spinal muscular atrophy, an incurable genetic situation that causes worsening muscle weak point, together with of the center and lungs, in accordance with the Cleveland Clinic. She started capturing pictures for Logan and his household when he was about seven months previous.

Three months later, Logan handed away. Cramer mentioned the work she’d carried out along with his household helped her uncover her life’s objective.

“It was through that experience of doing photos for them and capturing his life in both the joyful space and the hard space, that I realized that this is what I wanted to be doing,” Cramer mentioned. “I registered [On Angels’ Wings] right after his funeral, actually, because of the impacts that he had made on me.”

The photographic companies that OAW offers encompass:

• Free therapeutic images inside hospitals;
• NICU milestones for preemies which can be born earlier than 29 weeks gestation;
• Maternity classes for households which have a pre-diagnosed situation in utero for his or her child;
• Lost being pregnant conditions for 20 weeks gestation and above;
• Journey pictures for youths combating a terminal danger analysis.

Sarah Shaft has witnessed greater than 100 stillbirths and been instantly concerned in look after round 30 over her decade-plus nursing tenure at Mercy Hospital Springfield, one of many unique places for OAW. Shaft now serves because the bereavement coordinator there, serving to Cramer organize photoshoots for households that need to take part.

The variety of households she’s witnessed which have been touched by Cramer’s companies have been too many to depend, she mentioned.

“For On Angel’s Wings to be able to come in and give something to these families that’s tangible, that they get to go home later and have something in their hand that they can hold, that they can look at, that they can remember through, that is just something that is beautiful,” Shaft mentioned.

Cramer’s unique purpose was to serve the Springfield neighborhood, however she encountered many circumstances wherein the youngsters of requesting households have been being flown to Kansas City and St. Louis hospitals. Cramer discovered keen freelance photographers in each cities.

Cramer shot pictures for a lady named Ellie throughout her 10-year battle with DiGeorge Syndrome, an incurable genetic situation that happens when a bit of chromosome 22 is lacking and severely results a number of elements of the physique, per Cleveland Clinic. Ellie, who handed away in January 2025, was the longest-tenured youngster she has photographed.

Kali Bowman, Ellie’s mother, covers her partitions with photos of Ellie taken by OAW. She recalled probably the most impactful photoshoot, in a St. Louis hospital, the place Ellie was on a ventilator and present process a tracheotomy. Bowman, fearing her youngster would not survive the approaching days, contacted Cramer for photos, and she or he bought a photographer to indicate up on the hospital and do a full session with Ellie inside hours.

“That was just really, really special to me that they were able to accommodate us in that way,” an emotional Bowman mentioned.

Part of the nonprofit’s mission is to assist the households through the grieving course of. OAW ships out well timed memorial items — objects comparable to a necklace or keychain — to these grieving from a loss as a reminder that their youngster is just not forgotten. A grief restoration program is an alternative choice households can entry, which may be particularly useful for younger siblings.

OAW additionally hosts two annual occasions that assist households bond with each other. The Making Memories Day Carnival, held on April 25 at Battlefield City Park, was a recipient-only occasion that featured carnival video games supplied by native companies, bouncy homes, princesses and superheroes, and extra. A brand new theme is debuted every year.

On July 25, the OAW Gala will happen on the Old Glass Place in Springfield with the theme of Sequins and Spurs. From silent and reside auctions to sharing impactful tales to a fancy dress contest, the night time is a chance for the general public to have a good time the work Cramer and firm have carried out via the previous 13 years.

“The families are part of our family indefinitely, as long as they want to be and however they want to connect with us,” Cramer mentioned. “We have a lot of families that are fully engaged, and many of my staff members have developed really tight relationships with them. It’s a reciprocal situation.”

As demand grew massive within the state of Missouri, with income doubling from 2022 to 2023, OAW expanded its operations past state strains to includ Oklahoma, Minnesota, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana and Kansas, with volunteers in every location. The nonprofit offered 41 classes in 2013 and jumped as much as 492 classes in 2025 — 12 instances better than its inaugural yr.

Further growth is being delay for the meantime, however Cramer mentioned the expansion has already exceeded her personal expectations. She sees the fast growth as a testomony to the hundreds of lives OAW has touched.

“A lot of the photos are happy memories, and then some of them are just memories of times where [Ellie] was just really brave,” Bowman mentioned. “We were right there with her, and so was On Angels’ Wings. They were right there with us in some of those really difficult times, and honestly, I really have a lot of respect for Michelle and for those photographers for putting themselves in those situations and in those rooms that are so full of fear and emotion.”

Those who need to study extra about On Angels’ Wings or request a photograph session for his or her youngster can go to https://oawphoto.org. More particulars and tickets for the OAW Gala may be discovered at https://oawphoto.org/event/oaw-gala/.