Help sought after local family suffers tragic loss

PONDERAY — On the morning of Feb. 28 Brayden Herbert received a call no one wants — “I’ve been in an accident.”

It was a call that would end up turning the family’s world upside down — and caused them to reach out to their community for help after Shaylynn Richards had to undergo an emergency C section.

On Feb. 28, Richards was just a few weeks shy of her due date when she was hit head on by an oncoming car.

Richards was rushed to Bonner General Health for an emergency C section. The impact of the crash caused her uterus to rupture and separate the placenta.

Kayven Chase Herbert was born at 9:45 a.m. on Feb. 28 with a low heart beat, weighing 5 pounds and 18.6 inches long. He died later that morning.

“The doc explained how he put up a heck of a fight and fought hard but just could not come out of it completely,” said Corey Richards, Shaylynn’s father.

Herbert, Kayven’s father, rushed to the hospital with his family.

After Kayven was born, Shaylynn received two pints of blood, and medical attention to stabilize her. After a CT scan, it was discovered Shaylyn received a fractured rib and a laceration to her liver.

Herbert shared the experience over social media.

“Instantly my whole body went numb knowing my son had just passed away. Shaylynn was getting blood transfusions and not knowing if she was gonna make it,” he said. “After hours (medical staff) finally came into the room and told me Shaylynn was stable and still under. They ended up bringing me back to see Shaylynn when she was waking up. The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do was tell her that our sweet little baby boy Kayven Chase Herbert did not make it.”

Shaylynn and Brayden Herbert were able to hold their beautiful baby boy.

“He was so loved by his family, his mommy and daddy,” Herbert said. “Thank you to everyone who has showed so much support to Shaylynn and I.”

“To my sweet little boy, daddy loves you so much and I have no answers why I will never be able to hear you cry, feel you move, hear you giggle, watch your first step, and hear you say your first word. I just want you to know mommy is so strong and beautiful. We would do anything to have you cuddle with us every night. Rest easy handsome. I love you,” Herbert wrote.

“Words are hard to come by in something like this,” Corey Richards wrote. “However, holding my perfectly made handsome little grandson Kayven has been the most amazingly surreal feeling ever.“

“Holding him as he is, so precious and you just want to smile, but you can't as it is so heartbreakingly sad and still, feeling grateful that I had a chance to hold him,” Corey Richards said.

The Herbert and Richards families ask the community to keep Shaylynn and Brayden in their prayers through this difficult time.

They thanked the staff at Bonner General Health, the person first on scene who helped Shaylynn, and for the ambulance staff.

They also thanked all the family members of Shaylynn and Brayden along with all the friends who have reached out to or visited the couple in the hospital.

Shaylynn is still in the hospital and her liver is being monitored.

A GoFundMe fundraiser has been started for the young couple to pay for memorial expenses and living expenses as both heal physically and emotionally. In the first two days of the fundraiser, $5,350 has been raised of the $10,000 goal. As of the morning of March 8, the fundraiser has raised $5,900.

The GoFundMe is called “Help Shay & brayden get through this tragic time.”