North Carolina Pastor Loses Two Sons After Car Crash; Church Raises More Than $140,000 to Help Grieving Family
A North Carolina pastor's newborn son died Monday after being delivered by emergency C-section following a car crash on the weekend which also left his 2-year-old son dead.
Pastor Gentry Eddings, wife Hadley and their son Dobbs were traveling home to Charlotte in a caravan on Saturday when the vehicle Hadley and Dobbs were riding in was hit by a truck in Wilmington, according to WCNC.
Hadley, who was 8-months pregnant at the time was rushed to a nearby hospital for an emergency C-Section. Dobbs died in the crash and the newborn only survived two days, according to Forest Hill Church, where Gentry serves as pastor. The couple named the child Reed.
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After the crash, baby Reed was suffered a slight brain bleed , according to Forest Hill spokeswoman Stacey Martin.
On Tuesday morning, Forest Hill's senior pastor, David Chadwick, said the grieving couple is expected to be challenged in the coming weeks.
"Gentry and Hadley are beloved by us all… He is a man of enormous integrity. They both possess a deep faith. But it will be challenged in the days and weeks to come like no other time," wrote Chadwick in an email.
"They're going through all the emotions and processing all of this the next minutes, hours and days are going to be exceedingly demanding and difficult for them," he added.
Forest Hill Church member Rachel Jones created a GoFundMe page to help the parents cover medical expenses and other needs. The campaign has a goal of $150,000 and $147,970 of that amount had been raised at the time of this report.
"We were devastated by the news of this accident and decided the best way we could help was to pray but also to take a few minutes to create this account," wrote Jones on GoFundMe. "All funds donated will be given directly to the family to help with their medical expenses. Please continue to cover this family in your prayers!"
Police have charged the driver of the truck that killed Dobbs and Reed with a misdemeanor death by vehicle. He's also been charged with failure to reduce speed.
