People magazine recently featured Jason and Clarissa Osborn, a Utah couple who have lost five children in 11 months and still continue to honor their children’s memories.
The Osborn family’s tragedy hit the news back in June after the couple's recently born quadruplets died, according to the Deseret News.
“We firmly believe that our girls have moved on to be with their Heavenly Father and their sisters,” the Osborns' Facebook page read after the couple’s four daughters died. “There is life after death and that gives us comfort.”
With heavy hearts we update you on our family. Lexi and Savannah took their last breaths in our arms this morning. We...
Posted by One in a Million-The Osborns on Wednesday, June 14, 2017
The couple had previously been on an episode of BYUtv’s “Random Acts," which showed the cast of the show surprising the family with a gender-reveal baby shower for their quadruplets.
The four girls — Kylie, Savannah, Ellie and Lexi — were born June 11 at 23 weeks' gestation, weighing about 1 pound each.
Kylie died the following night because of brain bleeding. Ellie died the morning after because of lung bleeding, according to the Deseret News.
Savannah and Lexi died that Wednesday.
“We were able to say goodbye to them all, and we were grateful for that,” Jason Osborn told People. “But after already losing one daughter, to lose another four was heart-wrenching. I kept thinking, ‘Why all four? Couldn’t just one have made it?’ It was extremely difficult to realize that none of them were coming home.”
The couple had previously set up their home “with four of everything: four bassinets, four high chairs, four strollers, four car seats and case after case of formula and diapers,” according to People.
Here is an update on our little girls. Kylie did have brain bleeding and lung issues and did not make it through the...
Posted by One in a Million-The Osborns on Tuesday, June 13, 2017
Clarissa Osborn said at first she couldn’t imagine going home after losing the four babies so soon after birth.
“I knew that it would be emotionally hard to go home and see all of those baby things piled up,” Clarissa Osborn told People. “So we arranged to have somebody come and get everything and donate it to families who have babies born with heart defects like Shanna, through a charity called Intermountain Healing Hearts. It was important to us to pay it forward somehow.”
The Osborns, who met at Brigham Young University-Idaho, have one son, Carter, who was born in 2013. But soon after his birth, Clarissa Osborn developed brain tumors, and the radiation treatment she needed affected her ability to conceive, according to People.
The couple used IUI (intrauterine insemination) treatment to give birth to Shanna, their first daughter. But an ultrasound revealed she had a genetic heart defect that would require open-heart surgery after birth, according to KSL.
Shanna was born on April 17, 2016. She spent a month in the hospital after the surgery.
“Carter got to love on her and was thrilled to have a little sister,” Clarissa Osborn told People. “Things were going well. Then one Sunday morning, we awoke to a cry we had never heard before.”
The couple found their daughter "cold to the touch," according to People. Despite Jason Osborn's efforts to use CPR, their daughter died.
Now, the Osborns honor their five lost daughters through the Shanna K. Osborn Foundation, which will deliver $500 scholarships to college students who have heart defects, KSL reported.
“We wanted our daughters to go to college, so this is a way for us to follow some other young people through their journey and support them, even though we don’t have our little girls,” Jason told People magazine. “It’s a way to keep them in our lives and keep their memories alive, and bring smiles instead of pain.”
The Osborns told KSL it would have been impossible to survive this tragedy without the help of family and faith.
"Theres no way that we could have gone through the experiences that we’ve had without trusting in God and our faith," Jason Osborn said.