PAPILLION, Neb. (KMTV) — Ace Moudy would have turned 2 years old on August 21, 2019. The Papillion toddler died in April and no cause of death has been determined. It's been categorized as Sudden Unexplained Death in Children (SUDC).
His parents, Mike and Megan, decided they wanted to celebrate him on his special day. "When he first passed away our biggest thing was we want everyone to remember him...we want to keep his memory alive," Megan said.
Mike is friends with people who work at Complete Weddings in Lincoln. The business decided they wanted to help the Moudys honor Ace. Employees raised $1,900 in a month.
That money went to buy 75 toys for kids and gift cards for staff at Pre-K and Play Academy in Papillion where Ace went to daycare.
On Wednesday, each kid got to pick out a toy. They also sang Happy Birthday and ate cake.
Megan said, "I think we could've made this day sad if we would sit there and think about it too much, but this is his day, we wanted to celebrate it. We can be sad every other day, we just wanted it to be a positive, fun day."
The family is spreading joy in other ways too. They've invited people to share videos of themselves dancing and having fun as Ace loved to do. They've even made shirts that say "Ace's Impact."
Mike played football at University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Megan played softball there. They have a GoFundMe page to raise money to build a playground at the softball fields called "Ace's Place." You can see our past story, here.
