Palestine family donates infant preservation device to hospital
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Last year, the Pierce family went through the unthinkable when they lost their infant daughter to a rare neural tube defect.
'Skipper Kate was diagnosed with a rare and fatal neural tube defect, called anencephaly,' Sayler Pierce said.
While nothing could sooth their pain, all they wanted was another moment with Skipper Kate. The moment may not have been the way they imagined it, but the family was able to use a Cuddle Cot to make it happen.
'This device gave us the gift of time,' Pierce said. 'It keeps them cold. And by keeping them cold, it allows families to get time they otherwise would not have gotten without the aid of this cooling device.'
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Now Sayler and Noah Pierce are giving the same gift to other families by donating the device to Palestine Regional Medical Center.
'We knew one way that we wanted to honor her life was with a Cuddle Cot donation to each hospital,' Sayler said. 'It's an honor of both our daughter, Skipper Kate, as well as her Aunt Savannah, who passed away on December 28, 1996.'
The hospital said they could not afford the device, but the Pierce family's donation allows the hospital to offer this service to other families.
'This is just an unbelievable blessing because it's something we probably would not have been able to do with our own facility,' maternal child health director, Melissa Jones said.
Families dealing with a tragedy will now have the gift of extended time.
'This just kind of helps that process,' Jones said. 'It gives them time to just be able to bond and be with the family and experience the loss together.'
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This device may not be the last donation the family intends to give.
'Our goal is to spread Cuddle Cots around to give at least 1 to 2 devices to each hospital so that those families walking through that season will have the gift of time,' Pierce said.
Through their donations, the family hopes Skipper Kate's memory will live on.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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