CINCINNATI—Losing a child is something no parent should go through alone. For one mom, after going through it herself, she realized a need for support for families going through similar situations. 

​​​When you see Maria Dunlap and her family, you may think it’s nothing but smiles. But Dunlap and her husband went through the unimaginable — losing their first-born baby, Vivian, just 59 days after she was born.

“She brought us to this point with her life and opened this need that we saw and just trusting that she’s in heaven orchestrating a lot of it," Dunlap said.

Now, there are six Dunlap children, with a seventh coming any day now. But Dunlap says losing Vivian changed everything for her.

“It just evolved really organically for us," she said. "We didn’t walk out of the hospital like, oh, we’re going to start this nonprofit and do all of this stuff.”

Two years later, Dunlap founded Reviv, a nonprofit that helps support families through a life-altering or life-threatening diagnosis.

“People know that they’re not alone as they’re going through it," Dunlap said. "Like that was the biggest thing for us. I know we were able to go through everything that we went through with Viv the way we did because we had so much support.”

Now, Dunlap makes sure to keep Vivian’s memory alive with her kids.

“My big sister and she’s up in heaven," Fulton, Dunlap's oldest son said.

“She’s such a part of our lives that they love to talk about her and see her and hear the stories about what our life was with her," Dunlap said.

Dunlap says managing a growing family and a nonprofit hasn’t been easy.

“It’s been a learning curve because as we’ve started Reviv, I’ve had a baby every single year," she said. "So every year, there’s a new dynamic and trying to figure out how you balance that family, work-life.”

But when she thinks about how she’s been able to help thousands of families through their difficult times, she knows it’s all been worth it.

“Being able to remind them that we’re one more person in your corner is the whole mission and the whole reason we do what we do," Dunlap said.

One way Dunlap does that is through the Reviv room.

"Kids can be kids, parents can just relax," she said.

Dunlap along with staff and volunteers meet with families to provide an escape.

“We really wanted it to be a place where families were able to come and just come and exhale the heaviness of what they’re going through," Dunlap said.

Dunlap and her team are able to provide family support thanks to donors, much of it coming through their upcoming mission day on Sept. 21.

“That is the day that Vivi died and we wouldn’t be doing any of this if she hadn’t have died," she said. "And so for us and our organization, that day is the real birth of Reviv.”