DES MOINES, Iowa — Hundreds of people gathered Sunday afternoon for the 26th Annual MercyOne Walk to Remember.

Connie Thompson, the bereavement coordinator for MercyOne Des Moines Labor and Delivery, said that the walk happens in October in observance of National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.

“Today’s our 26th Annual Walk to remember to honor the babies that we’ve cared for here at Mercy that have passed away from stillbirth, early infant death, miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy. October is the month that we honor the babies, and so we’re just bringing awareness to infant loss and just kind of breaking the silence that there’s families that experienced this and these babies exist and they’re part of our families and part of our lives,” Thompson said.

Thompson said that some people have been honoring their loved ones at the Walk to Remember since it started.

“Some families have never missed a year in 26 years. Part of our theme today was time, and that it doesn’t matter if this was two weeks ago, two years ago, 20 years ago, these babies still exist and we still honor them. I think we had probably 250 people or so here today to honor their babies. And some families even told me they had people fly in from other states to be here because it’s a big deal to them,” Thompson.

Crystal Marciniak, a mother who lost her newborn, said that the Walk to Remember helps her not feel alone with her grief.

“We love to come to the angel garden. It’s very soothing to be here to see my whole hospice team that I had as all the ladies that were there for me when I had my daughter. It just it’s, it’s emotional. But you feel proud to come here, and know your baby and it’s, it’s a really good feeling to be not alone,” Marciniak said.

Meredith Hunt, a mother who lost her newborn, said that the community at the Walk to Remember helped her process her grief.

“We came here two months after our daughter Paisley died, and it was a good place to see that there’s other people and we aren’t alone in this kind of grief. It’s nice every year to come back and realize that we have become people that other people lean on as we have more experience and more time,” Hunt said.

To learn more about hospital provided resources for lost loved ones visit the MercyOne Bereavement Support website.