“Something I did not know and I’m sure many others don’t know is that most wooden toy chests once closed are AIR TIGHT and also sound proof,” she wrote.
According to Sadie’s account, the twins remained inside as they slept, gradually losing access to oxygen.
“So as they slept, all snuggled up together, they slowly ran out of oxygen within a couple of hours and passed away,” she wrote. “They never even knew it was happening. There was no sudden gasp for air, it was a very slow transition from sleep to passing on.”
The next morning, the family discovered that the girls were no longer in their beds.
At first, there was confusion as their parents searched for them.
Then one of their siblings found them.
Sadie recalled the heartbreaking words the child said when he discovered his sisters.
“Mommy I found them!” he told her. “They are so silly just sleeping in the toy box.”
Sadie immediately ran to the chest.
Within seconds, she realized something was terribly wrong.
“I ran in to check and within a few seconds I knew something wasn’t right, but I also quickly realized it was already too late…” she recalled.
For a mother who had gone to sleep believing her children were safe in their home, the reality was almost impossible to comprehend.
“It makes no sense to me and never will,” Sadie wrote.
The loss of the twins left the entire family devastated. But Sadie decided to speak publicly about what had happened because she wanted other parents to be aware of the potential danger she believed the toy chest had represented.
Her warning was direct and emotional.
“I hope knowing this helps in some way, and I hope if you have a toy box like this that you destroy it immediately!!!” she wrote.
For Sadie, sharing the story was not simply about explaining how her daughters died. It was also an attempt to spare another family from a tragedy she never imagined could happen.
Her husband, Don, struggled in his own way with the loss.
For a time, he did not publicly describe what had happened. He said part of him was still hoping that the nightmare somehow wasn’t real — that he would wake up and discover that the tragedy had never happened.
“I guess I was waiting to make sure this isn’t an extremely long, specifically horrific nightmare,” Don wrote.
But as the days passed, the reality became harder to escape.
“Since it’s just getting harder everyday and it seems pretty public now anyhow, here goes,” he continued.
“My beautiful family was stricken by tragedy — the loss of our beautiful perfect twins.”
Don also asked people to keep his family in their thoughts as they attempted to navigate life after the devastating loss.
“Please send all of the love, strength and good energy you can muster up to Sadie, my beautiful big boys and me — and of course the rest of the family, who have been a rock for us and are more loved and appreciated than I can express,” he wrote.
His final words were a reminder of just how quickly an ordinary evening can become something a family never recovers from.
“Hug and kiss those kids for me — even the grown-up ones. I love you all.”
For Sadie and Don, the loss of Kellan and Aurora changed their family forever. Their story also became a painful warning about a household object that had once seemed completely ordinary.
What had been purchased to hold children’s toys became connected to the loss of two young sisters.
And for their mother, the hope remains that by telling their story, other parents might look more closely at the toys, furniture and storage items inside their own homes — and recognize dangers they may never have considered before.