Nonprofits cover cost of baby's funeral

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - On Wednesday, a Grand Rapids woman was preparing to bury her 7-month-old grandson, and struggling with the cost of his death.

Daneen Chandler couldn't afford a casket for Ja'Marion Jalon Williams, and the one she had to settle on didn't feel like enough, she told 24 Hour News 8.

"I feel like, it's pretty much like a disgrace," Chandler said. "It's not even ... a child shouldn't even be buried in it. You know? But that's a free one. And unfortunately, that's what we have to take, because we can't afford it."

But two nonprofit organizations stepped in to lift the financial burden. Kyomi's Gift is paying for Ja'Marion's cemetery plot and a headstone, and Julian's Gift will help cover funeral expenses.

"I wanna say thank you to both of the organizations," Chandler said Thursday. "And I'm just -- just speechless right now."

Ja'Marion died of dehydration caused by a viral infection.

His mother, Natia Gates, was rocked by the death of her only son. Trying to pay for his funeral made things even harder.

"Because ... once you lose your loved one, it's hard," she said. "You have no funds, you have no money, it's kinda hard. I advise families to get life insurance on their kids. I just advise everything, because you never know when this could happen.

"This is hard. This is really hard on me."

Ja'Marion was going to be buried in a smaller casket paid for by the state. Now, he will be buried Friday in a bigger, more elaborate final resting place.

"I'm happy he's not going to get buried in nothing," Gates said. "I don't know, nothing it looked like a baby should get buried in."

Losing a child is something the president and founder of Julian's Gift, Holly Henderson, knows too well. She and her husband had Julian -- who only lived one hour before dying from Trisomy 13, a rare, genetic condition.

"So then I said, without help from families and friends, we would not have been able to bury our son how we would have wanted to," Henderson said.

That sparked an idea -- to let her son's memory live on by helping others.

"You don't expect a baby to die," Henderson said. "So, especially under 12 months. You just don't expect it. You're never prepared for it -- financially or emotionally."

In the end, Ja'Marion -- or "Daddy," as his family calls him -- will receive the final goodbye on earth his family knows he deserves.

"He was friendly, he smiled at everyone -- he was a gift from God," Gates said. "He was a good baby. And he lives on in our hearts, always."