It’s been 14 years since Aaron Watson and his wife Kimberly lost their daughter Julia, just an hour and 20 minutes after she was born.
Though her time on earth was short, Julia lives on in her parents’ memories. And on the 14th anniversary of the day she was born and died, Watson is remembering his daughter by doing something special for another child.
The singer shared an emotional video from Julia’s grave site on Thursday (Oct. 9), the day before her birthday.
“To honor her, we would like to try to raise some money for a two-and-a-half-year-old little boy named Bedford,” Watson said, fighting back tears.
“Bedford has a genetic disorder that has no cure. It’s left him handicapped,” he continues, “and we just wanna raise enough money for him so that he can have a playground.”
Another post shows Watson sitting by Julia’s grave with his acoustic guitar, playing his song “Bluebonnets (Julia’s Song),” which he wrote for her and included on his 2015 The Underdog album.
How Did Aaron Watson’s Daughter Die?
Julia, who was Watson and Kimberly’s fourth child, had a rare genetic condition called Trisomy 18, also known as Edwards Syndrome.
- Per the Cleveland Clinic, the condition is “random and unpredictable,” and occurs when a person has an extra copy of chromosome 18. There is no cure.
- It causes low birth weight and multiple birth defects, and most fetuses affected don’t survive a full-term pregnancy due to complications from the condition.
- The diagnosis is considered “incompatible with life,” and most babies affected die either before birth or within the first weeks or months of life.
- No more than 10 percent survive past their first year of life.
Kimberly shared a blog post about the experience, in which she said that the family found out that Julia had Trisomy 18 after an ultrasound appointment during her pregnancy.
She was given the choice to terminate the pregnancy or keep carrying the baby. “As a family, we made the only choice we could — to carry this precious child for as long as God would allow,” she wrote.
Julia was born in October 2011.
“For eighty minutes, we held her and cherished her,” Kimberly writes. “Then, just like that, she was gone. We knew what to expect but there is nothing that can truly prepare you for holding your baby as she slips away.”
The couple are also parents to older children Jake, Jack and Jolee Kate. Watson has said that he was inspired to write “Bluebonnets” the spring after Julia died, as they set up for a family photo near where Julia is buried.
Read More: Country Artists Who Have Suffered Unthinkable Tragedies
“I had such an overwhelming mixture of emotions seeing Jake, Jack and Jolee Kate smiling in a field of bluebonnets (the state flower of Texas), while having the place we laid their little sister to rest in the distance behind them,” he told Taste of Country in 2016.
How is Aaron Watson Giving Back in Honor of His Late Daughter?
Watson put out a call to action for his fans: To help a toddler named Bedford get his own inclusive playground.
Bedford’s family documents his journey on social media.
The young boy lives with Schwartz-Jampel syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that causes permanent muscle stiffness and bone abnormalities, per MedLinePlus.
Watson included a link to a fundraiser for Bedford, which is raising money to build a playground that is accessible to Bedford and other children who have different levels of physical ability than those required to play on most typical playgrounds.
See the Most Played Country Song from the Year You Were Born
Who had the most played country song during the year you were born? This list is a fascinating time capsule of prevalent trends from every decade in American history. Scroll through to find your birth year and then click to listen. Some of these songs have been lost through the years, many of them for good reason!
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes
