The Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC) Program Hosts Starlight Cruise on the Hudson River

HACKENSACK, N.J., March 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC) Program is hosting its SUDC Starlight Cruise on the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey on Saturday, April 14, 2012 to bring together dedicated researchers, families affected by SUDC and friends of the program to call attention to this cause and highlight the program's successes in educating the public about SUDC and advocate for further research.

The three-hour twilight cruise will sail along the Hudson River and offer spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline. The cruise will host an elegant cocktail reception and dinner party, a silent auction and the presentation of the SUDC Star of the Decade Award to Dr. Henry Krous, pediatric pathologist, as well as Founder and Principle Investigator of the San Diego SUDC Research Project.

Critically acclaimed tenor, Matthew Polenzani, who will star this spring in the Metropolitan Opera's Don Giovanni and La Traviata, will perform for cruise guests. The Polenzani family became involved with the SUDC program in 1995, following the sudden unexpected death of their 16-month-old daughter, Alessandra. 

"The SUDC Starlight Cruise is an opportunity to stop and cherish what we have, what we have already accomplished and embrace the future work to be done to end SUDC once and for all," said Laura Crandall, Co-founder and Program Director of the SUDC Program whose daughter, Maria, died of SUDC in 1997. "Our greatest hope and goal is that someday soon we can guarantee that no other families will ever know the pain of losing a child from SUDC." 

All proceeds from the SUDC Starlight Cruise will go toward SUDC's mission of supporting grieving families and funding crucial medical research into SUDC. To date, there is no federal funding for research into SUDC.

The Sudden Unexplained Death In Childhood (SUDC) Program was founded 10 years ago at the CJ Foundation for SIDS, based in Hackensack, N.J., which is devoted to eliminating the tragedy of sudden unexpected infant deaths and early childhood deaths. 

SUDC describes the sudden and unexpected death of a child over 12 months of age that remains unexplained after all known and possible causes of death have been ruled out. It is a very rare, and so far, unpredictable and unpreventable tragedy. It occurs in 1 out of every 100,000 toddlers.

Before the creation of the SUDC Program, the cause received no attention from the public, the medical field and researchers. Families coping with an SUDC tragedy often grieved in silence and alone with no support and no answers. 

The SUDC Program has worked to change that by creating a worldwide network of support, information, advocacy and research. It continues to alter the SUDC landscape today by providing the following: 

• Bereavement services to more than 500 families affected by sudden unexpected deaths in children, including SUDC, in the U.S. and in 14 other countries
• A centralized resource for information, support and advocacy for those affected by sudden childhood deaths, along with the first and only worldwide database for studying children who have succumbed to SUDC.
• Critical funding for SUDC research, which is supported by private donations only and would not exist today without the dedication of the SUDC program.
• Policy advocacy that helped create New Jersey state laws adopting comprehensive and standardized investigations in SUDC cases. The SUDC program is also backing the federal Stillbirth & SUID Prevention Education and Awareness Act that would implement better data collection to aid researchers and public health officials in working to prevent all sudden unexpected deaths up to 4 years of age. 

For more information on SUDC and how to make a donation to the program, please visit www.SUDC.org or call 800-620-SUDC.

SOURCE The Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood Program