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WOMEN TO WATCH
Noelle Moore: Finding and Fueling Hope
by Kate Slentz
Losing a child. It’s a mother’s worst nightmare. For Noelle Moore, it became a reality when complications from the delivery of her daughter, Finley, caused her to suffer brain damage and live for just 27 days. It has been almost five years since that tragedy. But this is not a story of loss, it is a story of hope and Noelle is a shining example of that.
F
ollowing
Finley’s
death,
house cleaned; they need food in their
you’re literally in survival mode.”
Noelle struggled to find re-
pantry,” she says. “When you come home,
Most therapeutic to Noelle was mas-
sources to help her deal with
your identity is gone. For me, I was no lon-
sage, so that became part of The Finley
her grief. She recognized
ger a daughter because my dad had just
Project’s program. “Massage was a huge
there was little to no support
died. I was no longer a mom. And then I
part of my healing — it was probably the
for mothers between leaving the hospital
was no longer a wife because my husband
only time I could really sleep,” she admits.
and adjusting to life back home. “I couldn’t
left. Our identities get stripped and then
The program also pays for 12 counseling
fathom that something so devasting had
there is no one to tell us how to function.”
sessions and then helps connect mothers
so little support in our community. And
Noelle tackled her grief head on. “I
with a support group or person. “It’s con-
that was what really saddened me when
went to counseling every week, if not
necting the mind and body and spirit so
Finley died. I was so desperate for help and
twice a week. I went to a support group
that they come out the best they can on the
I couldn’t find anything,” Noelle explains.
almost every week. I talked about her.
other side,” Noelle explains.
After a dark year focused on healing —
And whenever I would mention her name
While the organization has its strongest
she lost her father shortly before Finley’s
it honored the fact that she was alive and
presence in Central Florida, The Finley
birth and her husband left shortly after
my child,” she says.
Project is available in 17 states through 19
Finley’s death — Noelle established The
She applied her experiences to create a
hospitals. Noelle works with Florida Hos-
Finley Project in 2014. Since then, the non-
holistic approach to help grieving moth-
pital and Winnie Palmer Hospital on out-
profit has grown from the simple idea of
ers. The program begins with funeral
reach efforts as well as with a Pregnancy
helping grieving mothers find counseling
planning services because a lot of people
and Infant Loss Resource Network that
to a seven-step program designed to pro-
don’t know how to honor their child.
she helped establish to address issues and
vide a lifeline of support for mothers in the
“When I lost Finley, I didn’t care,” Noelle
concerns. She credits her board for raising
minutes, days and years after infant loss.
continues. “I didn’t care about my house; I
awareness and for being the backbone of
“What I realized is they’re not always
didn’t care about my body. The house
the organization.
ready for counseling right away. They just
cleaning was the next thing that I knew
“I know what we’re doing is helping and
need the basics covered. They need their
needed to be added. You just don’t care —
it’s providing hope, but it’s not a glamourous
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