The Purple Butterfly: A Silent Signal with a Powerful Voice
At first glance, it’s easy to overlook — just a delicate purple butterfly sticker near a hospital crib. It doesn’t beep or blink. It doesn’t call for attention. But for those who understand its meaning, it says everything that words often cannot.
It speaks of love and loss. Of life too short and grief too heavy. It speaks of Skye.
A Tale of Two Daughters and One Silent Goodbye
When Millie Smith and Lewis Cann learned they were expecting identical twin girls, their happiness bloomed — only to be crushed weeks later by a diagnosis no parent should ever hear. One of their babies, doctors said, had anencephaly, a rare and fatal condition. There would be no treatment. No cure. Only time — precious, fleeting, and cruelly limited.
They named her Skye, a name chosen not by chance but by purpose — a symbol of something eternal, unreachable, yet always present. And her sister would be Callie, the one destined to stay.
View this post on Instagram
On April 30, after a high-risk pregnancy that ended at just 30 weeks, Millie gave birth to both girls. Against the odds, Skye cried. For three unforgettable hours, she breathed, she was held, she was loved. Then, wrapped in her mother’s arms, she slipped away — leaving behind silence, sorrow, and a twin who would grow up without her.
When Grief Is Invisible
As Callie remained in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), surrounded by machines and the vigilant eyes of medical staff, Millie found herself submerged in a quieter kind of pain — one that didn’t come from Skye’s death, but from how easily her life was forgotten by those around her.
One day, another mother, juggling her healthy twins, offhandedly said to Millie: “You’re lucky you don’t have two.” She didn’t know. She couldn’t have known. But the comment cut deep — not out of malice, but because it reminded Millie how invisible her loss had become.
And in that moment, an idea was born. One that would give a voice to parents who had lost a child but had no words left to explain.
The Birth of the Butterfly
What if there was a symbol? A gentle sign that said, “There is a story here. Please be kind.”
Millie chose a butterfly — a timeless symbol of transformation, of something fragile and fleeting. Purple, because it’s neutral and soft, unbound by gender. She created posters, cards, and stickers. A simple purple butterfly placed on an incubator would quietly say: This baby had a sibling who passed away.
It was more than just an emblem — it was protection. A small shield against well-meaning but wounding words. A way for grieving families to be seen without having to speak.
What began with one NICU bed in one hospital grew into a global movement. Through the Skye High Foundation, Millie and Lewis’s mission spread far and wide. Hospitals around the world now use the purple butterfly to gently honor babies who are no longer here, and to give space to the parents they left behind.
Skye’s Legacy Lives On
Today, Callie is a vibrant seven-year-old, full of life — and always carrying a memory of the sister she never got to grow up with. Through her, and through every butterfly quietly perched on NICU cribs, Skye continues to make her mark on the world.
She lived only three hours. But in those three hours, she gave her family a lifetime of love — and sparked a movement that has changed how hospitals, nurses, and strangers treat the tender hearts of grieving parents.
🔹 More Than a Sticker
The purple butterfly isn’t just a symbol. It’s a voice for the silent, a hug for the hurting, and a promise that even the briefest lives can leave the deepest imprints.
Skye’s story reminds us that remembrance doesn’t always need words. Sometimes, all it takes is a tiny winged sticker — quiet, gentle, and purple — to say: “This baby is loved. And their story matters.”