Grieving Bucks County parents give back after unimaginable tragedy
LOWER SOUTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (CBS) -- It was an unimaginable tragedy that unfolded in the yard of a Bucks County home. A toddler was killed in April when a gust of wind brought a tree branch down on top of him in Lower Southampton Township.
"We're living our worst nightmare," mother Karen Babcock said.
In a split second, Karen and Michael Babcock's lives changed forever.
"We were all outside and a single crack," Karen Babcock said. "It was a single gust."
Ahead of an incoming storm, the couple's two-year-old son Dax was playing in the backyard of their Midfield Road home.
Police say strong winds knocked down a 30-foot-long tree branch and killed the toddler right in front of his six-year-old brother and mom.
"I'm in pieces, most days," Karen Babcock said. "And I relive it every second of the day."
Amid their darkest days, friends, neighbors and complete strangers came out of the woodwork, raising more than $45,000 to support the family.
"Thankful is not a big enough word to explain it," father Michael Babcock said. "We'll prove it over the coming decade how much it means to us."
The couple is planning to use the donations to create the Dax Pact Foundation. It'll provide year-round tuition for a student at Just Children, Dax's daycare center in Feasterville which now has a toy car memorial out front in his honor.
"This extraordinarily horrible event happened like, how do we take this as a reminder that like, every day is a gift," Karen Babcock said.
The foundation will also donate playground equipment to parks and provide free summer camp for a child at Breezy Point, Dax's summer camp in Langhorne.
"In order to make Dax outlive us, this is what we have to do," Karen Babcock said. "He will have generational impact," Michael Babcock said.
The Babcocks have hundreds of photos, each representing a special memory with their son. They remember him as an energetic little boy with a beautiful smile who taught them the littlest things in life are sometimes what brings the most joy.
"He was definitely just, a little a special little package," Michael Babcock said.
