Recently, the local news where I live (in Pennsylvania) was flooded with a story about a young couple who lost their baby. Another tragic story of a life gone before it was even able to live, you might think.
However, that’s not why the couple made headlines.
Kaycee and Geoffrey Lang made international news because the entire pregnancy and death were made up. For nine months they fooled their family and friends.
The couple had a baby shower and received gifts in celebration of a baby that never existed. They posted photos of their son who had “died” a few hours after birth on social media.
Then they asked a friend to start a GoFundMe page to help with the funeral expenses for a baby that never even existed. Their friends and family raised $550 on their GoFundMe page in addition to the hundreds of dollars in gifts that they received at their baby shower.
When a friend came forward to authorities about her suspicion of this being a hoax, police checked coroner’s offices, hospitals, and with local OB/GYNs for any records but there was none of the child or his purported mother.
A search warrant was issued, and a lifelike, newborn doll was found in their home, along with an urn bought from a funeral home, and no traces of any existence of a child anywhere in their home.
Disgusting.
There is no other word to describe these two individuals.
They took what is every parent’s worst nightmare and used it for financial gain. They toyed with the emotions of friends and family for profit.
The entire farce was pre-meditated over months leading up to the fake death of their “son”.
She wore a fake belly.
She announced the baby’s gender on social media.
They ran an obituary for a child who never even existed.
“Easton’s parents were blessed with just a little over 5 hours before he went to his heavenly home at 8:20 am Easton experienced holding hands and hugs and kisses with his mommy and daddy and being told uncountable number of ‘I love you’s’.” – from the obituary run in Johnstown’s Tribune-Democrat.
Their little scheme is our real life.
We’ve struggled to conceive.
We’ve struggled to carry a baby to term.
We’ve had the baby showers, only for our child to die in utero or soon after birth.
We’ve had only hours with our child to fit in a lifetime of hugs and kisses.
We’ve had to pay to bury or cremate our child/ren, instead of paying for diapers and wipes.
We’ve felt the earth-shattering pain when a piece of your heart dies.
We live with this pain EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
Reading their fake obituary for a child that never existed reduces me to tears. Those words were my reality.
I spent 3 hours with my son. Three hours to memorize his face, to give him kisses, to hold him, to make a lifetime of memories with him before I had to say goodbye forever.
I sat in that hospital room, hours after giving birth, calling funeral homes to get prices on cremation and burials for an infant.
I left the hospital empty-handed without my firstborn child, Asher.
Their pretend pain is my reality.
This couple used our pain and devastation to manipulate others for money. Their behavior is deplorable and sickening.
Kaycee and Geoffrey Lang, you are despicable. Words cannot adequately express how hurtful your scam is to the millions of us living with the pain of losing a child.
I am ashamed to say I reside in the same state as you, that people who are capable of such an atrocity live even remotely close me.
However, with that being said, I hope you NEVER have to experience the excruciating pain of losing a child, the pain you pretended to know. I guarantee you THAT pain is far worse than any of the fallout you are receiving from this heinous lie.
It’s a life-altering pain I wouldn’t wish on anyone, not even someone capable of a crime like this.
Photo credit: Gofundme
Amy Lied is a wife and a mother to her son, Asher, who was inexplicably born still on February 19th, 2017 and twin daughters. Before losing Asher, she suffered a miscarriage and struggled with unexplained infertility. She has documented her journey from the beginning of her infertility struggles on her blog, Doggie Bags Not Diaper Bags. She is also a co-founder of The Lucky Anchor Project , an online resource for loss families that houses an Etsy store whose profits are donated to loss family non-profit organizations. She hopes to help others by sharing her journey as she continues to navigate the bumpy road that is life after loss.
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