By Rubin E. Grant
Three years ago, James Morgan and his wife, Caitie, experienced a parent’s worst nightmare: the death of a child.
The Mountain Brook couple had gone to the Alabama-LSU football game Nov. 4, 2017, at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, and since the game ended late, they spent the night at a friend’s house.
They had left their young daughter, Caroline Grace, and their baby son, James Morgan V, with his parents to babysit.
The next morning when his parents went to check on James V, he was unresponsive. He had died in the middle of the night.
Doctors didn’t give the Morgans a reason their baby, whom Morgan affectionately described as his “little buddy,” had died so suddenly.
“He was not ill when he went to bed,” James Morgan said. “We never found out why. The explanation was sudden infant death syndrome. He passed away on the eve of his first birthday (Nov. 5).”
The grief was overwhelming for the Morgans, especially since, six years earlier, Caitie Morgan’s father, Buddy Parsons, had died of cancer.
The Morgans sought various forms of traditional therapy to cope with their loss, but it wasn’t until they met another couple who had dealt with the same loss that their grief finally transformed and they started on the path toward healing.
“They were a great resource for us,” Morgan said. “They asked us the hard questions about how we were doing. They were a lifeline in a way that was not possible to find in traditional therapy because they understood the pain our hearts were in. Seeing how they had found joy again and having them to talk through what we were experiencing gave us encouragement that no one else could have at the time.”
After dealing with their grief, the Morgans sought a way to honor their son.
“We wanted to turn our pain into a purpose,” Morgan said.
The couple realized others needed to connect over specific, shared life challenges, so Morgan decided to create an app, named Buddys in his son’s honor, that would allow users to find others experiencing similar life journeys, whether they are related to family and parenting, loss of a loved one, medical issues, mental health or relationships.
“It’s for somebody who is dealing with difficult life events, going through challenges and needs a way to connect,” Morgan said.
Buddys is free and was launched in mid-September. It can be downloaded through the App Store or Google Play.
Here’s how it works: A new Buddys user answers a few questions and builds their profile. Buddys uses its proprietary technology to search for other similar users and suggests connections based on each user’s story. Users can connect in the way that feels most comfortable to them, whether that’s anonymously, through private one-to-one messages, in small group forums or in topic-specific communities.
Buddys not only helps the person directly affected, it gives those who have survived, healed or recovered a way to give back, to share the ways they found hope and healing.
“We’ve reached 29 different states and have had several hundred users,” Morgan said. “Ultimately, we hope to give our members that ability to find peace and joy in their lives, knowing they are not alone in this world. We all need one another, and it is better to go through life together. Buddys connects us all in a new and exciting way, and we hope everyone can experience it together.”
As for the Morgans, since James V died, they have had another daughter, Carlisle, now 2.
“Two weeks after James passed away, we found out Caitie was pregnant,” Morgan said. “It was somewhat of a miracle because traditionally we hadn’t had easy pregnancies.
“It was a great blessing, very encouraging, something we needed to move forward.”
Here’s how the Buddys App works: A new Buddys user answers a few questions and builds their profile. Buddys uses its proprietary technology to search for other similar users and suggests connections based on each user’s story. Users can connect in the way that feels most comfortable to them, whether that’s anonymously, through private one-to-one messages, in small group forums or in topic-specific communities.
