The other half of all proceeds will be donated to the Bates Family. Devin Bates was one of the incredible videographer/photographers who brought our 2019 Geneva Annual Meeting to life. His family recently experienced a devastating, life-altering tragedy. Read their heartbreaking story below:
Ermias Sahven Bates was born on August 28, 2019 to his mother Colby and myself, Devin. Ermias was a silly, always smiling infant that was born with no complications. On November 22, just a few weeks ago, I went to make birthday party preparations for my other son Ernesto. Colby, my wife, was at home with Ermias. Around 4pm she called me yelling hysterically saying, “I think Ermias is dead!” those words snapped me into another world! I cannot tell you how fast I drove on the freeway! In and out of traffic, on the median and even on the wrong side of the street. When I got to my exit, the realism hit me all at once. “Devin, the father and husband may not be able to fix this one”. As men, we pride ourselves on being able to work through anything. At this point in my 42 years on earth, I have fixed all that challenged me; but this one was different, this one was on God’s level. When I reached my home cops and medical vehicles were littered on our driveway. Then the sight that no human wanted to see… there, on the pathway in front of my house were three medical personnel pushing my baby, my little son’s tiny body towards the paramedic truck. My mind was reeling, how did this happen? What happened? How could our healthy baby just die in his sleep? This cannot be real. But it was. I even learned we have a name for this atrocious monster that stole our son. This monster’s name is SIDS. SIDS stole our son who was healthy and vibrant with every promise of a long future. We were told there was nothing we could have done, and that it is a mystery that claims the lives of over 2500 babies every year in the U.S. alone. I had children before Ermias and had never heard of SIDS. In the last 48 hours, I have read many articles on the matter and the haunting part of it all is that it is almost impossible to stop from happening. I hope that people that read this get as much info as they can about my family but even more importantly about SIDS.