on 4/18/2008 my life changed forever i was told my 23 yr old daughter katrins was found dead on a bahroom floor in a battered womens shelter 2 days after her twin brothers daughter was born she died of a drug overdose and also left behind her 8 yr old daughter im searching for any type of support this small town i live in has no support groups please help
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Today has been a really hard day our first Thanksgiving without Jay. He died in an tragic auto accident on June 15, 2010 he was 16 years old. I went to the accident scene something I wish I had not done as did my husband, The way the person told us about his death was so cold and unfeeling. I still have nightmares about it. Sometimes I feel like my heart will break. I just can not accept the fact that I will never see him again.People say it will get easier with time but I am beginning to wonder. […]
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After my husband and I lost our daughter Amanda, age 18, the first few holidays held anxiety and dread for us. We anticipated waves of grief and deep sadness because she was not present to celebrate with us, and we wondered if we would ever find meaning in the holidays again. We did find a few techniques that have helped us through the years and you may find our experiences beneficial to you, especially in the early years following your loss. Have a plan. It is good to be mindful that the day will probably be difficult and it is […]
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on 8-27-2008 at 10:50 am my daghter die of aplastic anemmia,she need it a bone marrow transplant and we couldnt find one,we lok every where and wasnt a match,my family was tested and only 3 people was half match my older daughter melissa,my 5 years old grandson and an aunt in guatemala city,but it was too late she die before did the match except my older daughter plealetes was the the doctor put her in her body,since then i dont like to celebrated thanksgiving and christmas because her birthday is 11-24-1987 for me those days are holidays because i don […]
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The holiday season has arrived and I welcome it! I open my arms to the experience of feeling excited and simultaneously having the sensation of a throat constricting grief – well-known visitors during the holidays. Together, bitter and sweet emotions have given my life vibrancy I would have least expected, especially when my brother died sixteen years ago. Indeed, I would have gladly cast off any emotions that are the antithesis of joy or happiness. And as an eight-year-old at that time, I probably did avoid such feelings. Today, I give thanks for those moments that I can mourn the […]
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Even if I am young and widowed and we didn’t have much time together, I should remember how we celebrated Thanksgiving. But I don’t. I wasn’t blessed with five or ten years of holiday traditions with my husband. We celebrated only one Thanksgiving and now I am cursing myself – I can’t remember what we did. It’s not like the memory is blurry, I have blurry, fuzzy memories of us together. No, this is different. I simply can’t recall. I can’t picture a turkey or who carved it. I can’t image where we where, if we went somewhere, and whether […]
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Loving and caring for a loved one who has a life-long illness is an emotional roller-coaster ride ranging from disbelief, anger, fear, hope, depression, indifference to acceptance and moving forward. Your thoughts and feelings can swing minute-by minute, hourly, daily or weekly. Each thought or feeling has an impact, physically and mentally and it results in our attitude, which is either positive or negative. This is better known as a change cycle or grief cycle. The whirlwind of emotional heartache and grief is characterized by abrupt and extreme changes of ups and downs, and twists and turns. Each stage has […]
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Jonathan came into this world on Aug 20, 1990. He was born with a head full of red hair. I was a single mom and was ready for our adventure. 5 year later I married a man and we had a daughter, Heather. I was content with my life, for awhile. I had one of each-a son and a daughter. 7 years later the marriage ended and I was back to being a single parent. The 3 of us were tight until Oct 16, 2009. My son was traveling from Hilton Head, SC to Summerville, SC for work. He had […]
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I had a pretty good day recently. Which is shocking because I’ve starting in on my Christmas shopping. I think what made it okay was that first of all, I got to spend some time with my mom. The other thing though…the true miracle…is that I was doing it at all. For the past three Christmases (this will be my 4th without my husband), I think I have been in such denial that Christmas was going to actually happen that I left my shopping until the very last minute. This little practice made me feel so overwhelmed and exhausted by […]
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“Stop the train! I want to get off!” Jean shouted. Jean’s son of forty-three years had died in a restaurant. He choked to death. He had survived a life of infinite struggle as he lived with Down’s Syndrome and the isolation, stigma and cultural alienation he and his family had experienced daily. “He was such a good soul,” Jean continued, as tears streamed down her cheeks. “Of all the things to happen, why did it have to happen to him?” Her son Daniel had become increasingly independent as he aged and was living in a group home in the Bay […]
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Open to Hope is an online community offering inspirational stories of loss, hope and recovery. We believe hope is the bridge between loss and recovery.
