Derek and Ali Dodd’s entire world was lifted upside down when they were told their 11-months old had died – because of the negligence of the babysitter, the couple hired for their child to look after him.
The family is now mourning the untimely loss of their little baby and have created a Facebook page “Shepard’s Watch,” to help raise awareness of safe sleeping and to support parents who have lost babies to similar accidents.
Parenthood where on one hand brings so much joy to your life, it also comes with great responsibility. Dodd family is grieving the loss of their 11-months old child due to a common mistake of the babysitter they hired for their child.
Shepard Dodd was just 11-months old when he was buckled in the car seat and was left unattended for two hours, while his babysitter took a nap.
Shepard’s Father shared his heartbroken story on social media, “On April 6, I left for work early and was able to kiss Shepard and Ali goodbye. I will never forget him looking over for me and smiling. Shepard had only been going to the in-home daycare for five days when Ali took him on that Monday. He had his first runny nose that weekend and had woken up that morning with congestion, but he was in good spirits, so we weren’t overly worried. Ali messaged the daycare provider about using a Rock ‘n Play for sleeping so that Shepard could be on an incline instead of having to lie on his back. Originally, she agreed, but when Ali arrived and saw what it was, she couldn’t let him sleep in it.”
Derek recalls horrifying past and said, “At 12:51 p.m., the daycare provider called Ali and told her she needed to come quickly. The childcare giver reported that Shepard wasn’t breathing. She had called 911, and a police officer and EMTs had responded. Ali asked her to give the phone to an EMT, and after speaking with him she knew the situation wasn’t good. Ali called me. In the middle of teaching a class, I had to answer the phone to Ali saying I had to go, that Shepard wasn’t breathing.”
Absolutely heartbreaking!