Mother Runs Half Marathon In Honor Of Lost Son

She raised $3,000 for a grief counseling charity.

In 2011, Shantania Leggins suffered the unthinkable: she lost her newborn son, Kayden, to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Shortly after the tragedy, Leggins took up running. She started with going for just 1 mile twice a week.

“I ran to clear my mind,” Leggins, who is 34, said. “You’re out there by yourself running, and you’re able to think and to just, you know, breathe.”

Since then, Leggins has increased her distance and will be at the start line of this weekend’s Houston Half Marathon.

She says she is doing the race in honor of her son. She has raised $3,000 for Bo’s Place, which is a nonprofit group that provides free grief counseling for children and their families.

“We didn’t really know what they did,” Leggins admitted about the charity. “You never really think you’ll have to need something like that.”

Bo’s Place ended up being just what the family needed.

“They really had an impact on our family,” Leggins says.

For More: Chron.com