KAILI Kane’s story is tough to tell, an experience so personal, so emotional, so visceral.

It’s been two years now, and it is still raw.

“It was normal pregnancy,” she recalls from her home in the Derwent Valley.
“The scans were perfectly fine, and we found out it was a boy on February 28.
“An incident at work required a hospital checkup. Again, everything seemed completely fine. A few days later, at a family barbecue, I didn’t feel very well and realised I was bleeding quite a lot. “It turned out I’d had a placenta abruption with severe internal bleeding. “Emergency surgery saved my life but sadly, we lost our son in the process.”

She and her partner had already named him Harrison.

“I was in the Royal Hobart for a week, recovering, thinking about how my life had changed in such a short period of time.
“I was with the perfect man, and we were planning our marriage and this amazing life.
“I got talking with a psychiatrist, and the subject of a photograph of Harrison came up, a way to remember him.
“She suggested this organisation called Heartfelt, where a photographer captures something of that child, that loss, but in so doing, makes the grieving process a little bit easier.’’

Heartfelt is a national organisation of professional photographers who give the gift of photographic memories to those who have experienced stillbirth or children with serious or life-threatening conditions.

“The photographer walked in and introduced herself, and we started chatting, and kind of clicked,” Kaili said.
“She was local, close to where I live, and that photo shoot started a bond between us.’’

The small handful of photographs tell the story for Kaili.

“She didn’t try to get me to smile, just capture the pure raw emotion.
She gave me everything.”

Today, Kaili lives in Ouse, and works at the Lawrenny distillery.

She and her partner have a nine-year-old girl and have tried again for another baby.

She remains very open about those moments two years ago.

More, she continues to sing the praises of Heartfelt.

“I think these people give mums like me something in a moment of need, something to cherish, and I’m very grateful for that. It such a comfort to know we had something to bring home.”

Every day in Australia, six babies are stillborn and two more die within 28 days of birth.

Heartfelt is at http://www.heartfelt.org.au.