The City of Lloydminster has declared October Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Awareness and Memorial Month.
The proclamation is the result of the efforts of SIDS activist and Lloydminster resident Rob Trainor, who began fighting for the cause after his nephew, passed away from the disease June 13, 2014.
Trainor says not much is known about the disease.
“It’s suffocation in a sense, but not the same as if you would put a pillow over somebody’s face,” Trainor said. “It’s the mixture of the blood gas. There’s too high of a carbon dioxide content, as opposed to oxygen. What the missing piece is, is why some babies pass away at a month, whereas my nephew lived to be  twelve and a half months old. So there’s a lot of questions still about it, but essentially, you put a baby down to sleep and he doesn’t wake up.”
Trainor also says the syndrome is surprisingly common.
“Recent studies show that one in every 2,000Â Canadian babies succumb to SIDS every year,” he said. “So, I mean, this is more prevalent than people would think, which is why it’s important that research is done, and that there’s funding for this research, which is one of the biggest stumbling point for a lot of the medical researchers, is that nobody has any money for it.”
Since he began his activism, Trainor has had SIDS commemorated in communities as far away as Salt Lake City.