ABOUT ASHLIE’S EMBRACE
OUR MISSION
Ashlie’s Embrace was founded in 2016 by Erin and Tony Maroon following the stillbirth of their daughter, Ashlie Cathren. What began with one family’s experience has grown into a nationwide mission to improve bereavement care for families experiencing stillbirth and infant loss.
By providing cooling units to medical facilities across the United States, Ashlie’s Embrace helps give families something incredibly precious after loss: time. Time to hold their baby, create memories, gather loved ones, and begin processing their grief before saying goodbye.
Every cooling unit placed helps ensure more families have access to compassionate care and the opportunity to spend that precious time together.
Pictured: Ashlie’s Embrace placed its very first CuddleCot at Cleveland Clinic Akron General Hospital in Ohio, the hospital where founders Tony and Erin Maroon’s daughter, Ashlie Cathren, was born. The donation was made on September 7, 2016, marking the official launch of the Ashlie’s Embrace mission to provide cooling units that give grieving parent’s the “gift of time” to spend with their baby after stillbirth or infant loss.
WHAT WE DO
PLACE
COOLING UNITS
Providing medical facilities with the resources they need to provide their patients compassionate care.
SUPPORT GRIEVING FAMILIES
When a lifetime of memories must be made in just a few precious moments, we help give families the choice of more time to hold, bond, create memories, and say goodbye.
EXPAND
BEREAVEMENT CARE
Through advocacy, education and awareness, we work to advance bereavement practices and promote comprehensive standards in hospitals nationwide.
OUR IMPACT
Annual Report
Each cooling unit placed represents a family given more time, a medical facility better equipped to provide compassionate bereavement care, and a community that helped make it possible. Our 2025 Impact Report shares a closer look at the reach of our mission, the growth of Ashlie’s Embrace, and the people and partnerships that made it possible.
OUR MISSION IN ACTION
Every cooling unit placement represents a community coming together to ensure families experiencing loss have more time with their baby. From families honoring the memory of their own children to donors, hospitals and community partners, each dedication becomes part of a growing nationwide effort to improve the experience of bereavement care.
