Meet the Misick Family

We are the Misick family, and this is our story. A story filled with love, heartbreak, resilience, and a little girl who changed our lives forever.

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On July 25, 2022, our beautiful daughter, Hazel Joy Misick, stopped breathing while taking a nap at her babysitter's house. She was rushed to the hospital, and despite every effort to save her, our sweet girl passed away on July 26, 2022, at just six months old.

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In an instant, the life we knew was gone. We went from living what felt like our greatest dream to experiencing a parent's absolute worst nightmare. The shock, heartbreak, and devastation of losing Hazel are things we will carry with us for the rest of our lives. There is no moving on from losing a child. There is simply learning how to move forward while carrying them with you.

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But our story didn't begin with heartbreak, and it certainly doesn't end there.

 

Our Story

Jamie and Sean were married on December 3, 2016, excited to begin building a life and growing their family together. Sean already had a son, Jackson, whom Jamie quickly grew to love as her own.

Shortly after getting married, we learned we were expecting our first baby together. Unfortunately, that pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. A few months later, we were blessed with our son, Lucas Michael, who was born on March 18, 2018. He brought so much happiness into our lives, and we couldn't wait to give him another sibling.

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When Lucas turned one, we decided to try growing our family again. What we never expected was the long, painful journey that would follow. After eight miscarriages, countless tears, and years of hoping, praying, and wondering whether we would ever get to bring another baby home, we were finally blessed with our rainbow girl.

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Hazel Joy Misick was born on January 3, 2022, and she was everything we had hoped and prayed for.

After so much heartbreak, she was our sunshine after the storm. She made our family feel complete in a way we had dreamed about for years.

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For six beautiful months, we got to love on our little girl. Hazel was strong, sassy, sweet, and full of personality. She absolutely adored her big brothers and her daddy. She was definitely a guys' girl! Her bright eyes, chubby cheeks, and contagious smile could light up an entire room. She was so incredibly loved, and she knew it.

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We had no idea that six months would be all the time we would get with her.

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Life After Hazel

Losing Hazel changed absolutely everything about our lives. It changed how we see the world, how we parent, what we value, and how we choose to spend our time.

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Since Hazel's passing, we have been blessed to welcome her little brother, Owen, into our family. His middle name, Hayes, is a special tribute to his big sister. We truly believe Hazel had a hand in sending him to us, and we see little pieces of her in him every single day.

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Our family looks different than we ever imagined it would. We are a family learning to live with both tremendous grief and incredible happiness. We laugh, we make memories, we celebrate milestones, and we do our best to appreciate the little moments. But through it all, someone is always missing.

We talk about Hazel often. Her pictures fill our home, her brothers know who their sister is, and we continue to look for the little signs she sends us. She is just as much a part of our family today as she was when she was physically here.

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One of the biggest lessons we've learned is that grief and happiness can coexist. We can miss Hazel with every ounce of our being while still finding so much joy in the life we have. One does not take away from the other.

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Turning Heartbreak Into Purpose

In 2023, we established the Hazel Joy Memorial Foundation because we knew we wanted Hazel's life to mean something beyond the heartbreak of losing her.

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We wanted to create something that would keep her name alive, share her light with the world, and make a meaningful difference in the lives of others.

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Through the foundation, we are committed to supporting families experiencing unimaginable loss and hardship, recognizing siblings who are often the forgotten grievers, supporting children and families in hospitals, advocating for safe sleep, and raising awareness for organ donation.

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These causes are deeply personal to us because they are all part of Hazel's story.

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We know firsthand how quickly life can change and how important it is to have a community that surrounds you when your entire world falls apart. We were incredibly fortunate to have people show up for our family during the darkest days of our lives. Through this foundation, we hope to be that same source of love and support for others.

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We never imagined this would be our story. We certainly never imagined that we would be parents who had to learn how to live without one of their children.

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But if there is one thing we know, it is that six months was enough time for Hazel Joy to leave a lifetime of love behind.

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We cannot change what happened to our daughter, but we can choose what we do with the love she left us.

And that is what the Hazel Joy Memorial Foundation is all about.

Thank you for being part of our journey, for remembering our girl, for saying her name, and for helping us continue to spread her joy.

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Forever our girl. Forever our reason. Forever Hazel Joy.

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With love,
The Misick Family