TYLER, Texas — In his decades-long service of delivering children, Dr. Lourell Sutliff said the loss of a child was the saddest thing both a patient and himself had to encounter.
In an effort to help comfort East Texas mothers and fathers, Sutliff and his wife Lynda donated funding for the 'Hope Monument,' a sculpture of Jesus comforting a young mother as He cradles her child.
On Wednesday morning at the Bradley-Thompson Tower Plaza at Christus Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, the Sutliffs dedicated and blessed the sculpture alongside Christus officials to serve as a memorial to children who have been lost due to miscarriage, abortion, stillbirth or an accident.
Sutliff, an obstetrician and gynecologist for over 30 years, practiced in San Angelo for 35 years before coming to Tyler and working part-time for two years before retiring.
"This statue hopefully will provide comfort to those people of faith and realize that Jesus is watching over that child and they'll see the child again," he said.
Andy Navarro, Christus Trinity Mother Frances Health System vice president of mission integration, said the monument will serve as a "tangible reminder for God's hope and peace."
Robin Rowan, executive director of Christus Foundation, noted that when a person sits on the stool next to the sculpture no matter where they sit, Jesus' eyes look directly at them.
Sutliff became familiar with the sculpture when he was serving as president for CARE (Christ-centered Abortion Recovery and Education), a group that gives counseling services to women who regret their abortion. One of the board members saw the same sculpture during a trip to Kerrville.
He contacted the sculptor and the process of getting monument built at Christus Mother Frances Hospital began.
Sutliff added about one in six pregnancies end in miscarriage, and it's unusual to find a woman with three or four children who has not experienced a miscarriage.
"I hope that people that have lost a child will come to this site, sit down and peripherally contemplate their circumstance, their love for a child that they no longer have, and will go away with some sense of hope," Sutliff said. "In God's bigger plan, they'll see the child again."
He wants the monument to be a reminder that not all pregnancies end well and not all children live to adulthood; however, there is always hope.
For Sutliff, obstetrics and gynecology is the most exciting field in medicine.
"The thing that makes it so exciting for me is that it's almost always a happy outcome, except in cases when there is a tragic loss of a child. But everybody's happy," he said. "To me, medicine is the most rewarding profession. With all its struggles and faults, is the most rewarding profession you could ever choose."