Mike and Kate Price with Declan, Violet and baby Emerson. The are overjoyed a ring with hair from their son who was stillborn in 2011 has been found. Photo / Supplied
Mike and Kate Price with Declan, Violet and baby Emerson. The are overjoyed a ring with hair from their son who was stillborn in 2011 has been found. Photo / Supplied
A couple's despair and heartbreak at losing the only keepsake of their stillborn son has now transformed into elation after it was found in the Bay of Plenty.
Mike and Kate Price had been staying at Omokoroa Kiwi Holiday Park with their young family on Saturday when Mike removed a ring while in the shower and forgot to pick it up when he left.
The loss was all the more devastating for the couple because of what it contained - hair from their stillborn first child.
"I don't usually take my ring off. I actually thought at the time 'I mustn't forget that's there'. But when I finished I gathered up my shampoo and everything and it must have been hidden behind the door," he said on Monday.
"I'm kicking myself. We lost our son in June 2011. It just feels like we've lost him again. It's quite hard going."
The couple live in Feilding, about six hours' drive to the Bay of Plenty. It wasn't until they were back home they realised the ring was missing.
Desperate attempts to contact the campground were hampered due to the weekend's lightning strikes which cut the holiday parks' phone lines for a few days. The feeling of helplessness only added to the heartbreak, Mike said.
"The worst thing is if someone else might be wearing it with our son's DNA, obviously they won't know, but the thought that he's with someone else we don't know, that makes it hard as well," Mike said.
"We were quite lucky to have three other children but it's still quite raw."
Mike Price's ring contained DNA from their stillborn son who died in 2011. The ring was lost in the Bay of Plenty at the weekend but has just been found. Photo / supplied
A friend of a friend who lives nearby initially visited the campground on behalf of the Prices to see if anyone had found the ring but with no joy. However, on Monday night, Mike received the phone call he had been hoping for.
"One of the cleaners found it and is putting it aside for us," Mike said.
"We are very relieved. It's like a weight being lifted."
The couple is now hoping friends who live nearby will be able to pick the ring up and bring it down to Palmerston North where they were expected to travel to for Christmas.
