On quiet afternoons, Scottsdale-based Sheridan James often sits beneath a tree in her backyard while her two daughters play nearby. To most, it’s ordinary. To Sheridan, it’s everything. It is Tristan’s tree, planted in honor of the baby boy she carried for 35 weeks but never brought home.
“It’s a place where I go to feel connected to him; nature reminds me his energy is still here. Even though he isn’t physically with us, he lives on in the beauty that surrounds us.”
The tree became a symbol of peace and survival born of unimaginable heartbreak. Sheridan recalls waking one night with a gut-punch, knowing something was wrong.
"It was heartbreaking and gut wrenching..."
She carried that memory into the hospital, and ultimately walked out with empty arms.
In the weeks that followed, Sheridan instinctively turned to the outdoors. A family friend gifted them a tree, and she returned to it again and again.
“Our tree became a way to keep Tristan’s spirit alive. A sacred place of connection.”
One of the hardest parts of stillbirth, she says, is the fear your baby will be forgotten.
“But Tristan is real. He is forever our son. Tristan’s Trees is my way of keeping his spirit alive while also honoring all children gone too soon.”
From that promise came her foundation. What began as a single backyard tree has grown into a mission: to give other grieving families the same gift: a living memorial when everything else feels fragile.
“Along my grief journey, I connected with people who made me feel less alone. That inspired me to create this nonprofit granting families the gift our tree has given me and to build connection so no one walks this path alone.”
Tristan’s Trees provides grieving families with a living memorial; a tree planted in honor of a child lost to stillbirth or whose life ended too soon in childhood. Sourced through local nurseries and delivered to a home or meaningful place, each tree is funded entirely by donations to ensure every family has a place of remembrance.
“Every time we deliver a tree, my heart breaks a little because I know their pain.”
At home, Sheridan’s daughters know they have a brother. The family uses the hummingbird as Tristan’s sign...
“I want to show my daughters that even from something so awful, something beautiful can grow.”
For Sheridan, it’s not about moving on...
“Strength can come from weakness, and love can be shared even in the darkest times. Moving forward is the only option because life keeps going.”
Tristan’s Trees is her way of staying rooted in remembrance while growing in hope.
“I hope he’d say, ‘You’re doing good, Mom. You’re doing something beautiful out of something so painful.’ My greatest hope is that he would be proud to know this work, in his name, is helping fellow families feel less alone.”
Donations help Tristan’s Trees grow. Each contribution goes directly toward planting more trees so families have a place to feel their child’s presence rooted in something living and lasting.
tristanstrees.org, IG @tristans.trees
“Our tree became a way to keep Tristan’s spirit alive. A sacred place of connection.”