Jace’s Journey

10/23/2026

10/18/2026

Our first Healing Table gathering, themed “Keeping the Light,” was everything I hoped it would be and so much more. 💜🕯️

We are so grateful to the women who trusted us with their stories and shared space with us. We laughed, we cried, we made candles, and we held space for one another.
Out hope for The Healing Table was to create a place where we could come as we are, feel seen, and know we don’t have to carry our grief alone. This gathering felt like the beginning of that community.

A special thank-you to AmeriHealth Caritas North Carolina, March of Dimes NC, Love and Lit Candles, and MORE Labs for helping make this experience possible.

To every woman who joined us: your story matters. Your grief matters. You belong here. 💜

The Healing Table will gather again in January! Stay tuned for details as we continue building this community together.

10/15/2026

🕯️ Tonight, we light a candle for Jace—and for every baby loved, missed, and forever remembered.

Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Join the Wave of Light tonight at 7:00 PM in your local time zone by lighting a candle for one hour. Together, our lights honor our babies and remind families that they are not alone.

When the candles go out, our love remains—and so does our need for support. 💜

This Saturday, join us for Keeping the Light, a free pregnancy loss peer support group with a special focus on moms of color. Together, we’ll make space for remembrance, connection, and honest conversations about grief, identity, and life after loss.

🗓️ Saturday, October 17 | 11:00 AM–1:00 PM
📍 AmeriHealth Caritas Wellness Center
3120 Wilkinson Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28208
💜 Free to attend • Refreshments provided

You don’t need the right words. You don’t have to share. Come as you are, knowing your baby and your story matter.

Scan the QR code on the flyer to register.

If you feel comfortable, share your baby’s name below so we can honor them together. 🕯️

10/14/2026

Keeping the Light is not just a peer support group—it’s the beginning of building a community. 💜

A community where our babies are remembered, our grief has room, and we don’t have to explain why some days are still hard. Where we can say their names, share our stories, sit quietly, or simply show up as we are.

After losing Jace, I learned how much it matters to have people who will keep showing up—not just in the beginning, but as life moves forward and grief changes.

That is what I hope to build through Keeping the Light: lasting connections among moms of color navigating pregnancy and infant loss, rooted in understanding, compassion, and love for our babies.

🕯️ Keeping the Light: Pregnancy Loss Peer Support Group
📅 Saturday, October 17, 2026
⏰ 11:00 AM–1:00 PM
📍 AmeriHealth Caritas Wellness Center
3120 Wilkinson Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28208
💜 Free to attend. Refreshments will be served.

Scan the QR code on the flyer to register.

You deserve support. Your baby deserves to be remembered. And you deserve a community that holds space for both.

10/13/2026

After losing Jace and nearly losing my own life, I struggled with more than grief. I struggled with trust.

Trust in my body. Trust in medical care. Trust that my concerns would be heard and that I would have a voice in decisions affecting my life.

There is a helplessness that comes with looking back and wondering, “Did I have a choice? Did I understand what was happening? Could anyone hear me?”

Becoming an advocate did not erase those feelings. I could speak up for other families and still struggle with the moments when I felt powerless in my own care.

If loss has left you questioning medical decisions, afraid to trust again, or trying to regain a sense of control, you deserve space to talk about that, too. You don’t have to have it all sorted out.

💜 Join us for Keeping the Light, a pregnancy loss peer support group centered on moms of color. We’ll explore how loss affects our identity, feelings of control, and trust—and find connection with others who understand.

🗓️ Saturday, October 17, 2026
⏰ 11:00 AM–1:00 PM Eastern
📍 AmeriHealth Caritas Wellness Center
3120 Wilkinson Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28208
✨ Free to attend. Refreshments provided.
📲 Scan the QR code on the flyer to register.

Your voice matters. Your questions matter. You deserve to be part of the decisions about your body and your care.

10/12/2026

Losing Jace changed how I see myself. I’m still Tomeka, but there is a before and an after. And learning to live as the woman I am now has taken time.

I am Jace’s mom. I am a woman who grieves. I am also someone who laughs, loves, dreams, and finds joy again. Some days, holding all of those parts of myself feels easier than others.

My advocacy is one way I carry Jace with me. But I don’t have to be strong, productive, or helping someone else to honor him. Being his mother is part of who I am, even in the quiet moments when nobody sees my grief.

That’s part of what we’ll make room for at Keeping the Light: how loss changes us, what we carry forward, and who we are becoming.

To the mom learning to recognize herself after loss: you don’t have to have it figured out to join us. Come as you are. 💜

10/11/2026

Sometimes, in my mind, I tell my story as though I went straight from losing Jace into advocacy. But that’s not the truth.

When I came home from the hospital, I was broken. I didn’t understand everything that had happened. I didn’t know what to do next. I didn’t feel like myself. I was struggling, and my friends and family helped carry me through those days.

Before I could support others, I needed support myself. And that is normal.

You don’t have to turn your pain into purpose. You don’t have to have the words or know what comes next. You deserve support right where you are.

That’s why Keeping the Light matters to me. It’s a peer support group where moms of color navigating pregnancy and infant loss can connect, share, or simply listen.

If you’ve been trying to carry it all alone, we invite you to join us. Your grief belongs here. Your love for your baby belongs here. You belong here. 💜

Register for Keeping the Light through the link in our bio.

10/10/2026

After losing Jace, I had to learn how to live in a body that had carried my son and barely survived—and how to see myself in a life so different from the one I had imagined.

My recovery was visible. My grief wasn’t always. People could see that I was healing physically, but there was so much they couldn’t see: the changes in how I viewed myself, the distance between me and my body, and the weight of being a mother whose baby wasn’t in her arms.

I am Jace’s mother. I always will be. But carrying that identity in a world that often recognizes motherhood by the children it can see can be deeply lonely.

After pregnancy or infant loss, words like “mother,” “father,” “parent,” or “caregiver” can bring comfort, pain, questions or all of those at once. You may feel different when you look in the mirror. You may struggle to feel connected to your body. You may still be finding words for who you are now.

You deserve space for all of that.

That is why Keeping the Light: Navigating Identity, Autonomy, and Grief After Pregnancy Loss means so much to me. We’re creating a compassionate space centered on moms of color to talk about the parts of loss that don’t always get spoken aloud.

Come to share. Come to listen. Come as you are. You don’t have to have the words yet.

🕯️ Saturday, October 17 | 11 AM–1 PM
📍 AmeriHealth Caritas Wellness Center
3120 Wilkinson Blvd., Charlotte, NC
💜 Limited to 16 participants. Message Jace’s Journey for registration information.

Our babies matter. Our stories matter. And who we are becoming deserves care, too.