Losing a child is one of the most trying things any person can possibly experience. While you hope and pray that your child lives a long, healthy, and happy life — and certainly that they will outlive you — sometimes that is sadly not the case.
Gloria and Steven Kimmel experienced this tragedy firsthand when their son Isaac passed away. But even though Isaac has been gone for several years now, the little boy hasn't been (and will never be) forgotten.
The Kimmels welcomed a rainbow baby after Isaac's death and posed for a family portrait. In the photo, their lost son is also represented in a beautiful way, right alongside the little sister he didn't have a chance to meet.
Since being shared online, the gorgeous black-and-white photo has gone viral.
Scroll through to learn more about this heartwarming tribute.
Thumbnail Photo: Facebook / Gloria Kimmel
[H/T: Yahoo]
Indiana couple Gloria and Steven Kimmel welcomed their son Isaac in 2014.
The little boy was the couple's first child.
Sadly, Isaac was diagnosed with type 1 spinal muscular atrophy (also called SMA or Werdnig-Hoffmann disease).
"Isaac was diagnosed with SMA Type 1 when he was 6 months old. It was right after Thanksgiving," Gloria told Yahoo Beauty.
"We were told to take him home and love him as much as we could, as the disease, at that time, was terminal."
Gloria and Steven were able to get their son into a clinical trial for a new SMA drug, which seemed to help him for a while. But sadly, the baby died in July 2015 at just 14 months old.
A week and a half after baby Isaac was laid to rest, Gloria and Steven got matching tattoos in memory of their firstborn: one angel wing across each of their backs.
"We wanted to have a beautiful physical reminder of his life and the promise of being with him in the afterlife," Gloria explained. "The tattoo was meant to be his angel wings. He was half of each of us, so we each had one of his wings to hold us. He was the angel that was holding us together when we were so lost without him. The tattoos are a reminder that he is always with us in spirit."
The couple welcomed their second child, a daughter named Claire, in June 2017.
For baby Claire's newborn photo shoot, Gloria and Steven shared a lovely photo of their swaddled rainbow baby lying between them as they lie with their backs to the camera.
In the picture, Isaac's angel wings appear to belong to baby Claire.
“I just thought it would be so wonderful to have our memorial for our son be part of her photo shoot welcoming her into the world, since Isaac couldn’t physically be there with us," Gloria explained to Scary Mommy.
The photo was shared by Gloria's sister Grace Arend. She tweeted the photo, then it quickly went viral.
"My sister & her husband got tattoos of angel wings after their son died 2 yrs ago," Grace wrote. "They had a baby girl in June. This moves me to tears."
Grace's post has since been retweeted over 20,000 times.
"When I look at it," Gloria said of the picture, "I see our entire family, with Isaac there with us — the product of all the love, hope, and prayers over two years."
Isn't this a beautiful tribute to baby Isaac?
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