Anneliese Marie was Cynthia Thomas’ third daughter, and a picture of health on Oct. 27, 2012. Her mother placed her on her back in her crib to sleep. When Thomas returned to check on her 4-month-old, Anneliese Marie was dead — the cause was determined to be sudden infant death syndrome. Now Thomas is working hard to raise funds to support research that may better assist in finding the risk factors for SIDS and how to prevent it.

“I followed all the rules with my daughter, all the rules that they recommend, and she still died,” Thomas said. “We need to fund research, so this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

Thomas, 34, started Strollin’ to Fight SIDS — a 5K fundraising walk — last year with her friend, Tiffany Sparks-Keeny. It was the first SIDS fundraising walk in Washington state.

“I was just so devastated — obviously — by grief, but there was just no way I could pull this off by myself,” said Thomas, giving much credit for last year’s walk to Sparks-Keeny. Thomas was also diagnosed with cancer just one week after her daughter’s death.

The second annual Strollin’ to Fight SIDS walk will be at 10:30 a.m. June 7 at the Newport High School track course, with registration at 10 a.m. Online registration can be found at strollintofightsids.org. Funds raised go to the CJ Foundation for SIDS, and Thomas said $4,000 has been raised so far through sponsors. This year’s fundraising goal is $10,000.

“We’re getting really close and I hope we exceed it,” Thomas said.