151: Laura's pain became her purpose

If you’re a parent, you know – there is nothing more precious to you than your child. You would do anything for them, to keep them healthy, and happy, and safe.

But sometimes, even the best parents with the best of intentions can have a brief lack of focus, and the results can be devastating.

The subject we’re talking about today is hot car deaths. Outside of crashes, heatstroke is the leading cause of death in vehicles for children 14 and under. It happened 36 times in 2022, and so far in 2023 the total stands at 26. And that’s just in the US. For more than half of these, the person responsible unknowingly left the child in the vehicle. This is something that happens to loving, caring and protective parents.

As you hear Laura talk about what happened, you’ll hear the pain in her voice. It’s a heartache that will never go away. But before this conversation is over, you’ll hear something else: determination. Because Laura is on a mission to make sure that what happened to her doesn’t happen to other parents.

Content warning: this episode includes discussion of child death, and suicide.

Laura’s website:

https://AndersonsAlert.org

Laura’s podcast:

Beck’s Backseat to Change - http://becksbackseat.com/

Lots of information about car safety for children is at Kids and Cars:

KidsAndCars.org

The children’s book, Wherever You Go, by Pat Zietlow Miller –

If you would like a signed copy, or you prefer to support an indie bookstore (and you should!), you can contact Mystery To Me Books in Madison Wisconsin:

·        Email – [email protected]

·        Phone – 608-283-9332

And they will ship a signed copy of the book directly to you.

Or, you can order the book on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316400025/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image

The Amazon Wishlist we discussed:

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/17KQCVHDU4Y0E?ref_=wl_share

Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here:

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/151

Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai.

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