Mom honors son who died of SIDS with Oct. 7’s Run for the Angels

Every fall for years, surrounded by friends and family, Liz Montgomery went on a walk in honor of her son, who died of SIDS.

It was a chance to set some time apart just for him and to foster friendships with parents whose infants died before hers, and after.

“It was what you did to remember Mason,” said Montgomery, of Rathdrum. Her son was 5 months old when he died in 2003.

That annual event – organized by the SIDS Foundation of Washington – ended, but her friends and family kept calling. So Montgomery organized her own race. The first 5-kilometer Run for the Angels will take place Oct. 7 in Coeur d’Alene.

The race starts at 4 p.m. at the gazebo at Riverstone Park in Coeur d’Alene. A half-hour remembrance ceremony will begin at dusk. While the online registration deadline has passed, participants can register in person on race day.

Registration costs $30 for adults and $15 for children 12 and younger. Check-in starts at 2 p.m.

Each year, more than 4,500 infants nationwide die suddenly of no immediately obvious causes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate has dropped by more than half since 1990.

Money raised by the event will go to benefit SIDS education efforts with the goal of further reducing the number of infant deaths, Montgomery said.

It’s also a chance for parents and supporters to remember their children and reconnect with one another.

“It partially fills that huge void that was left,” she said.

For more information, go to www.inwsids.org or call (208) 557-4371.