Retired trainer who makes use of wedding ceremony attire to make angel attire makes us proud to be from Pittsburgh – WPXI

SEWICKLEY, Pennsylvania – Deb Rego has donated wedding dresses in her basement. Special memories are sewn into each one.

But the Sewickley woman reinvents it. Every stitch she makes is a labor of love.

“My grandson Max died 5 years ago. He was in utero for 33 weeks, ”said Rego. “It was very devastating and I decided I had to do something to heal.”

Deb had just retired from home economics at Pittsburgh Public Schools.

The lifelong seamstress came up with the idea of ​​transforming donated wedding dresses into angel dresses. Deb carefully takes the beads and stitches out of the clothes, then sews them into tiny clothes for babies and so-called sacks for babies.

They are given to babies who die before they get home from the hospital.

“When you lose a baby and come home and look at the empty car seat, sometimes all you need is something to take home,” Deb said.

At West Penn Hospital, one of the places Deb donated some angel dresses, families can either dress their baby in the dress or take them with them.

“It’s so important because these clothes are precious treasures,” said nurse Sandra Stanley, who is part of the AngelHeart Perinatal Bereavement Team at AHN West Penn Hospital. “It is what you will keep for a lifetime to remember and honor your baby.”

Deb made 100 and donated to hospitals in the area and beyond, and they are all unique.

“It helped me,” she said, because she is doing it right at the side of her grandson Max. It’s Max’s mission. “Maybe that was the purpose of his life,” said Deb.

If you’re interested in donating to Deb’s project, which she aptly named Max’s Mission, you can search for her HERE.

October is the month of infant loss awareness.