A global “Wave of Light” is cast over Earth every year on Oct. 15 in observance of Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day.

A community candle-lighting ceremony will be held, 6:30 p.m.–7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 15, at Serenity Park, 115 W. 1st St. in DeRidder.

Katlyn Morrow chose to organize the event to create a connective ceremony for everyone who has experienced pregnancy and infant loss, including herself.

In 2016, she and her husband lost their second child at 21 weeks gestation due to an incompetent pelvis. In her grief, Morrow felt isolated.

“For years, I struggled with that loss. … A couple of years ago I had been invited to a walk, a remembrance walk, and I just didn’t have the strength to do that,” she recalled. “At the time, I just felt so alone, and the only people who truly understand what you’re going through are other mothers who have experienced the same thing, and for years, I didn’t know that there were other people around here that felt that way.”

Nine years later, she has found a sense of community among other women who have experienced similar loss. Nine years later, she feels “at peace.”

“I didn’t realize then how many women in our area had been affected by the same thing.

“It was a lot of emptiness, not everybody gets to a point where they want to share their story or do things. I have. I have.”

The candle-lighting ceremony will be a chance for the community to come together and remember lost pregnancies and children. She said lost pregnancies sometimes fade out of memory, a difficult part of the grieving process.

“I wanted to be able to honor those with and without names and genders, and just bring something to the community to show, ‘Hey, your baby’s not forgotten,’” she explained. “I get questioned all the time about how many kids I have, and it used to be a really awkward answer for me to give. Because, technically, I have three children, if you look at it from a medical aspect. But, you know, I have two perfectly beautiful children here with me.”

A large banner  with some of the children’s names was purchased. Morrow said that those who were unable to submit a name in time will be able to add to the banner with a marker.

The ceremony is open to everyone.

A grief counselor from Beauregard Health Systems will be there to talk to participants about the services and resources the hospital offers.

“If it is something that they’re struggling with or need people for, like reproductive type services, they want the community to know what’s there so that people have access to that,” she said.