Annie F. Downs Debuts New Children’s Book About Grief, Inspired by Baby Nephew’s Death

Annie F. Downs attends the 11th Annual K-LOVE Fan Awards in Nashville, Tenn., on May 26, 2024. Jason Kempin/Getty Images

Annie F. Downs, a New York Times bestselling author based in Nashville, has published a new children’s book to help kids navigate grief.

Released on Feb. 18, “Where Did TJ Go?” centers on the loss of Downs’s nephew, Timothy Jacob, who died in August 2022 when he was 56 days old.

Downs, who hosts the podcast “That Sounds Fun,” cowrote the 32-page book with her sister, Tatum Green.

The sisters created the picture book, which features illustrations by Surrey, England-based artist Jennie Poh, to help Green’s son, Sam, process the loss of his baby brother.

“When a baby is on the way, everyone gets excited, including the little girls and boys who will have a new baby brother or sister to teach, play with, and care for,” an official synopsis reads.

“But sometimes things don’t work out as expected. Sometimes a baby doesn’t thrive. Sometimes they die and sometimes they can’t even be born.”

The sisters discussed the inspiration behind “Where Did TJ Go?” and their own experiences with grief during a Feb. 17 episode of Downs’s podcast.

“We keep saying this is the book that we wish no one needed, but so many families do,” Downs shared.

“And that was our reality as a family in the summer of 2022.”

Losing TJ

Leading up to that fateful summer, Green and her husband, Jacob, whom she wed in 2015, faced many challenges on their journey to parenthood, including four miscarriages and three failed in vitro fertilization cycles.

Green said the entire experience was extremely difficult to process. “And then we miraculously, spontaneously got pregnant with Sam,” she explained. “I was terrified.”

The couple welcomed their “miracle boy” in July 2020. Fifteen months later, they learned they were expecting again.

“When we were just 12 weeks, we did the genetic testing and found out that TJ was really sick,” Green recalled.

TJ was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder known as Edwards syndrome, or trisomy 18.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, the condition occurs when a baby has an extra copy of chromosome 18, resulting in a range of intellectual disabilities and physical abnormalities. Approximately 95 percent of fetuses diagnosed with Edwards syndrome do not survive to full term.

“[TJ] had a life-limiting diagnosis, and one that there’s basically, there’s nothing doctors can do,” Green said.

“Most of the babies with his diagnosis don’t even make it to birth. Those that do, most of them pass away within the first few months.”

TJ was born in June 2022. After spending three weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit, he was able to go home, where he spent the next five weeks in hospice care.

“We just got to have family around him all the time, and Sam got to have a lot of time with him,” Green recounted.

“It was such a sweet gift.”

‘A Blessing to Many’

Downs penned a touching tribute to TJ on Instagram not long after his death, writing that his brief life meant so much to her and her family.

“We’ve known he was sick since always. Every day was one day more than we thought we would have,” the Christian author wrote on Aug. 20, 2022.

“I said goodbye to him, as his tiny body was no longer able to hold on to his big soul,” she continued.

“I whispered a few things about who to look for in heaven after he saw Jesus (mainly my grandmothers) and how much I liked him already in his 56 days here with us, how impressed I was with his fight and his strength, and how we would miss him terribly. We do.”

On Feb. 18, the day her new book was published, Downs took to Instagram to share her hope that “Where Did TJ Go?” would help other families who have experienced the loss of a loved one.

“Too many families know a version of the grief we experienced. We hope and believe this book will be a gift in the midst of the pain and sadness,” she wrote.

“While it focuses on infant loss, this story of the hope of heaven and holding joy and sadness at the same time can serve any family that is grieving. May TJ’s life and story be a blessing to many. He sure is to us.”