Dan and Jacquentte "Jax" Jaramillos said from the day their son, Daniel, was born, he was a fighter. This trait earned him a special nickname.
"When the doctors told us we'd have a battle, we nicknamed him "the lion" to tell him, 'Hey, you're going to walk in power, courage and pride,'" Dan shared.
Jax said Daniel was born at 26 weeks, about three months premature.
"He was 1 pound and 11 ounces," Jax said. "His lungs were not fully developed and that kind of caused him a little trouble with breathing. He had an asthma attack at 14 months and that took his life."
The couple said they had a decision to make on whether they wanted to sit in grief or use Daniel to embody something positive. On Daniel's second birthday, the Jaramillos invited any family that was touched by a similar grief to losing a child or caring for a sick child to participate in 'Daniel "The Lion" Day.'
"It was a journey," Jax said. "Having our first 'Daniel "The Lion" Day' on his second birthday was helpful in that healing and it kept on going until it reached a peak where we could smile again. We didn't think that was possible before."
Since 2014, the event has offered free food, fun and carnival-style activities.
"For us, as parents, we wanted to choose this," Dan said. "We felt, as the parents, that’s what he deserved."
The Jaramillos said giving back to those in tough situations began before 'Daniel "The Lion" Day' came to fruition and even before Daniel passed.
"If you walk down that hall at Children's Hospital, there's a lot of isolated families and we were just sitting there one day saying we wanted to flip the script on this," Dan said. "While we're going through this, why don't we bring the meals? Why don't we go support others in our situation so we can drive this and rise above our situation?"
Dan said they started bringing in meals to other grieving families where they would eat together to build support.
Jax said those final months with Daniel in the NICU began their mission that would eventually grow to connecting with an estimated 3,300 families by the 10th annual 'Daniel "The Lion" Day.'
"We found healing through serving others authentically," she said.
The parents look forward to seeing more programs come out for people who see a life after grief.
Dan said he knows it takes time to get to where he and his wife are, but he wants this event to support people at all phases of their journeys.
"It takes emotional strength to relive a child's death over and over again, but someone needs to do it because there’s tons of programs before death. But after death, they’re remote, obscure, isolated, distant," Dan said. "So someone’s got to be there. We want to be there."
Daniel was born in August so the couple hosts their event every year during that month. In addition to 'Daniel "The Lion" Day,' the family also hosts holiday events where mascots will visit hospitals or attend birthday parties for families with sick kids.