Dad dedicating schools built in honor of his son

It's almost impossible to describe the roller coaster of emotions Reed Cowan has been though over the past year. Likewise, it's impossible for those who haven't experienced a tragedy like Cowan did to fully comprehend how much he's been hurting.

On April 23, 2006, Cowan's only son, 4-year-old Wesley, died after accidentally becoming entangled in a backyard swing set. Cowan, a popular television reporter with KTVX, went into near isolation as he tried to cope with the tragedy. His world turned dark with no seemingly no hope of finding a light at the end of the tunnel.

But now as the one-year anniversary of Wesley's death approaches, the grieving father has found a way to have some good come from the most painful event of his life.

Wednesday, Cowan left for Kenya, where two schools will be dedicated in his son's name on Monday, the anniversary of Wesley's death.

Cowan prefers to remember April 23 as the day Wesley "graduated."

"We were able to turn pain into purpose," he said.

Ironically, it was just two days before Wesley's death that Reed was watching an episode of the Oprah Winfrey show featuring guest Craig Kielburger. Kielburger is founder of the Free the Children foundation, a group that helps children all over the world. Cowan said he was moved so much by the show that he decided then to someday do something similar to what Kielburger had done.

It was during his time of mourning that Cowan remembered the Kielburger appearance and realized now was the time to act.

"I had to get control of the ship of grief. I told myself, 'I'm either going to die or I'm going to do something with this,"' he said.

Cowan said he was overwhelmed with the outpouring of love and support he received after his son's death and realized that not every child is so lucky.

"My son got a hero's goodbye. Yet somewhere on the other side of the world it's not proportionate," he said. "I know somewhere on the other side of the world people are dying who don't get to see the age 4. I've got to turn this around and balance the scales a little bit."

Cowan founded the Wesley Smiles Coalition, which soon partnered with Kielburger's Free the Children. The initial goal was to raise enough money through fund-raisers and donations to build a school in Kenya and dedicate it in Wesley's name.

"Through yard sales, private donations, fund-raising drives in elementary schools and lots of wonderful people on the corporate level ... almost $40,000 was raised," he said.

The money was more than the group expected to raise, and the donations haven't stopped.

One group of nurses cashed in all of the sick hours they had saved up and donated the money.