Family remembers late son with a butterfly in family photos: his 'story goes on'

Cindy and Jim Bob Haggerton lost their son, Evans, just hours after his birth.

ByABC News
April 25, 2017, 1:28 PM
After losing a son shortly after his birth, these parents decided to remember him, represented by the butterfly, through a special photo shoot with their other children Tate, left, and Whitten, right.
After losing a son shortly after his birth, these parents decided to remember him, represented by the butterfly, through a special photo shoot with their other children Tate, left, and Whitten, right.
Courtesy NHance Photography

— -- Losing a child can trigger an unimaginable grief, but one family in Texas found a healing way to honor their son’s memory.

Cindy and Jim Bob Haggerton lost their son, Evans, just hours after he was born due to an undetected condition. But, they still remember him years later in their family photos.

After adopting son Tate, now almost 2, and giving birth to son Whitten, now 13 months, Cindy Haggerton knew she also wanted to pay tribute to Evans in their family photos.

She said she "never really felt right" about using a portrait of Evans in their other pictures. "That just didn’t feel like us," she said.

Haggerton collaborated with Natasha Hance of Birth Unscripted and NHance Photography, who had also photographed Evans for the family during his short life.

They eventually decided to represent him in their photos with a small butterfly placed above their two youngest children. They also refer to their youngest children as their "rainbow babies" -- a term used to describe children born following an infant who dies -- and incorporated a rainbow into the photo as well.

Hance said she drew inspiration from a time she heard Jim Bob speak of the family’s loss after seeing a mural of a butterfly.

"[He talked about] how they had all been in a dark cocoon in that year they had lost Evans, but that, even in that dark cocoon, there was something really beautiful happening. They just couldn't see it yet," Hance told ABC News. "That their broken pieces were being polished to form something really beautiful."

Haggerton said although memories of losing Evans are painful, she’s still grateful they’re finding a way to remember him in their daily lives. It also provided a way for the couple's other children, 8-year-old Harper and 6-year-old Ellington, to think of him often.

"It’s such a special, special thing to celebrate and remember for our family," she said. "Even though there’s grief that comes with that, it’s such a healing thing to know their story goes on."

The photos were taken months ago, but have recently garnered attention on social media. Haggerton said the response has brought a little extra happiness lately, as her husband is going through some health issues of his own.

"All of us going viral has come at a sweet time," she said. "The rainbows do come after the storms that we’re walking through."

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