A Child Without a Voice

A Child Without a Voice – organized by Gina Proulx on behalf of Sheri Stuckenbrock and her two daughters.

On Friday, September 15th, our family experienced a tragic loss and unspeakable tragedy. Jeff Stuckenbrock, the father of my two cousins – Lola and Tillie- unexpectedly passed away in his home. Not only was his passing a horrible shock to us all, but he also had Tillie for his portion of the week, and so tragically, she was there when he died. Tillie is 8 years old, and non-verbal autistic. She was supposed to be picked up for school that morning, but when her taxi arrived, the driver said that she could see Tillie at the window waving for help. The taxi driver, having seen this, contacted dispatch to alert them that something was wrong. Unfortunately, the policy for taxi pick-ups prohibits the drivers from exiting the vehicle. Upon being told this by dispatch, the driver attempted to alert the school and have them follow up. For some reason the school didn’t call my aunt Sheri. After two missed calls halfway through the afternoon to Jeff’s phone, they presumably gave up. My aunt only discovered that something was wrong when she called Jeff to ask a question and Tillie answered the phone instead. It wasn’t until around 6:00pm that Tillie was finally removed from the home. Upon finding her, my aunt noticed blood on her hands, shoes and clothes. She had been left alone with him for so long that, even though he had died from a heart attack, his body had started to bleed, and Tillie must have tried to help him. We cannot imagine the horror that she endured mentally throughout this experience, an experience that could have possibly been avoided if the school had the proper security procedures ensuring that absent children are located safely as soon as possible, especially when the children in question have developmental delays. We are calling for all schools to implement an automatic system that will alert parent(s) of absences, such as the one my aunt was familiar with at the girls’ previous school. We are hoping that the news coverage that has already been published will help bring awareness of this terrible possibility and encourage Algoma Public School Board – as well as schools across the nation- to make this very simple change to ensure our children's safety. While my family is grieving this loss and coping with the trauma, they are also being faced with financial crisis as they try to afford funeral costs. With ODSP only covering Jeff’s cremation and a box to be sent home in, the other costs are being put on his loved ones while they themselves are already struggling to make ends meet. After everything that has happened, these girls deserve proper closure for their father. So, we are hoping to raise enough money to have a service so that they can properly say goodbye. Sheri has now become the sole provider for both her autistic children on top of everything else. Anything above our goal will go towards helping them get through this difficult change in their lives and help them afford necessary services such as therapy and respite care for Tillie. Any donation helps, big or small, but if that is something you’re unable to do, a share of this fundraiser would help immensely.

“We are so thankful for the outpouring of love, kindness and condolences we’ve received since Jeff’s passing, and especially the help and support we’ve already received from friends and loved ones. We just want to make sure our girls get to say goodbye to their Daddy the way he would have wanted and appreciate anything anyone can do to help.” - Sheri Stuckenbrock