Monique’s Story

Monique, her husband Stephen and their eldest son Aiden have been attending Suncoast Church since November 2025. In this story, Monique shares the devastating loss of two of her children. Her story is one of hope in the face of heartache and a picture of what it looks like to walk through grief with the support of a church community.

I have always grown up with faith and strong faith-based values; however, in my adolescence and some of the years that followed, I wrestled with the tension between hearing about God’s unconditional love and devotion to us, and witnessing the chaos and suffering that exists in the world. I found it difficult to understand how the two could coexist and, at times, I felt angry with God for allowing certain tragedies to happen - both in my own life and in the lives of others.

That struggle resurfaced in 2023, when my second child and baby boy, Archer (Archie), was unexpectedly diagnosed with a terminal heart condition as I carried him at 20 weeks pregnant. While his survival was not considered possible, there were many things that remained extremely important to my husband, Stephen, and me when it came to Archie’s care and life experience - no matter how short it would be.

One of those things was wanting the chance to meet him alive. Over the next 12 weeks, I prayed for our precious boy and our family, begging and bargaining with God for more time as Archie grew within me. On the 27th July, Archie was born into my arms. By God’s grace and Archie’s incredible strength, he lived for a short while that day - long enough for me to tell him how deeply loved he is, how proud we are of him, and that we would never forget him. Our little warrior.

After Archie’s passing, Stephen and I moved from Brisbane back to the Sunshine Coast with our eldest son, Aiden, to lay Archie to rest. It was there we began building a new life, though it never quite felt like our own. Everything was painfully unfamiliar and uncomfortable, as we navigated a grief beyond comprehension, while learning to exist in a world that no longer fit the version of ourselves we had once known.

Nine months later, we were blessed to discover we were pregnant again with another little miracle, our Elena (Elle). But our world shifted quickly once more when doctors discovered she had an extremely rare renal condition - completely unrelated to Archie’s diagnosis - with only 12 confirmed cases they could find worldwide.

Once again, our family was thrust into a storm of heartbreak: bi-weekly heartbeat checks, weekly trips to our specialist back in Brisbane, endless testing, agonising waits for results, and desperate hope for answers.

At 17 weeks gestation, Elle’s diagnosis became clear - her condition was also terminal. It was devastation we knew too well. Just as we had for Archie, we created and completed a bucket list for our little girl - all the things we wanted to experience with her while she was still with us - and she courageously fought for more time.

Seventeen weeks later on the 23rd January, 2025, Elle was born. The moment we had fought so hard for had finally arrived. As she took her final breaths on my chest, my heart ached with both overwhelming gratitude for the blessing she was, and the unbearable reality that we could not keep her forever.

A few weeks after Elle’s funeral, I was sitting with a friend when she asked, “Mon, I don’t understand; how can you still have faith after losing not one, but two children?”

The answer came simply.

“If you had met them, you would believe too. Because only something that perfect could have been created by something out of this world.”

Archie and Elle have forever changed the course of our family’s life. They have transformed who I am as a mother, a wife, and a person. Stephen and I made a conscious decision early on that we would never be gatekeepers of their story or the impact they have had on our lives. Instead, we want to share them and the extraordinary gifts God has given us through them.

The Suncoast community have never feared the weight of our family’s grief, but instead have leaned into it with us. They have embraced us gently, held space for our sorrow, and reminded us that God is not absent in our suffering, but often reveals His presence through the people He places around us. In these challenging times, we are thankful to find ourselves surrounded by compassion, prayer, and quiet reminders that we are never walking this road alone.

Through heartache and healing, God has taught me some of the most profound, difficult truths I have known. I have learned that love and loss are intertwined - that the privilege of loving someone so deeply also carries the price of grieving them deeply. I have also come to understand that some parents are entrusted with raising angels here on earth, while others are entrusted with creating angels for Heaven beside Him. Neither truth is easy to accept, but I will be eternally thankful for having the chance to meet my three beautiful babies, to know them, and to love them with all that I am.