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Newborn dies in crash; mother asks for help bringing him home to Maine

"Life is precious. Don't take it for granted."

SABATTUS (NEWS CENTER Maine) - A mother from Sabattus who now lives in West Virginia is sending a message: wear your seatbelt.

She wasn't wearing hers when she was in a rollover crash that killed her newborn son.

Rebecca Reaves is begging for the public's help to bring her baby home to Maine so he can be buried with family.

RELATED: GoFundMe set up to bring Jameson to Maine

“Life is precious,” she said. “Don't take it for granted.”

Once she came out of a 3-day coma, Reaves only got to spend two hours with her newborn son. Jameson was delivered by emergency C-section, after Rebecca was thrown from her car at 8 months pregnant.

She says she was told the baby wouldn’t have any quality of life, and that he was braindead. Had she worn her seatbelt – she says she could’ve saved his life.

Jameson died on March 17th, four days after the accident.

“I feel like I was robbed,” Reaves said. “Like I didn't get enough time with him.”

Her physical pain was bearable in comparison. She suffered a broken femur, pelvis, tailbone, and underwent several surgeries.

The emotional pain is one Rebecca never wanted to feel again, after she lost her 3-month-old daughter to SIDS in 2006. “I never expected to go through it again,” she said. “It killed me.”

Hayley Elizabeth, Reaves’s daughter, is buried at the Pleasant Hill Cemetery in Sabattus.

Rebecca wants to bring Jameson home to be with his sister. “That way he can see he's not alone and he's with his family,” she said.

She's asking for anyone's help to bring him home. Transportation and a funeral will cost more than $5,000.

A GoFundMe page in Jameson's honor has already raised almost $1,500.

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