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Finding Grief Support Online

Posted on April 14, 2009 - by Marty Tousley

By Marty Tousley, RN, MS, FT, DCC If you have access to a computer with an Internet connection, you have at your fingertips a wealth of grief information, comfort and support. The Open to Hope website offers an extensive array of resources. Other websites offer online chat rooms, discussion forums and message boards, where you can join a virtual support group, connecting with and sharing your experiences with others whose losses are similar to your own. The online Grief Healing Discussion Groups that I monitor and moderate is an example of such a site. Selecting from over a dozen individual forums, […]

Corresponding With Bereaved Parents

Posted on April 13, 2009 - by Sandy Fox

by Sandy Fox This morning I opened my email and heard from a mother who had lost her 21 month old son in a car/pedestrian accident last year. She had just finished reading my book, saying it was the first one she had read since the accident, and found that reading about other parents who have lost children and what they have gone through reaffirms her own feelings. She, like many, is having a rough time. Her email has inspired me to write today’s blog. In another email I received recently a mother said she read my book twice, enjoying […]

Woman Feels Helpless to Comfort Grieving Boyfriend

Posted on April 13, 2009 - by Richard Beck

Marissa writes in: My boyfriend lost his mum seven months ago, four days after having her diagnosed with a brain tumor. She was his best friend, and had a very close relationship with him. I think he didn’t have a proper grief at the beginning, he was always trying to make his dad and brother feel well while forgetting about himself. He relied on me, we started dating only 2 months before his mum died, but I have been there for him since. He’s been always saying how much he appreciates my support, and how important I am for him. […]

When a Child is Dying, What Do Classmates Need to Know?

Posted on April 13, 2009 - by Norman Fried

By Norman Fried — Children with chronic illnesses are often absent from school due to medical treatments and their attendant side effects. Frequent hospitalizations, chemotherapy, outpatient doctor visits and general malaise and fatigue have all interfered with the child’s ability to maintain proper and consistent attendance in school. In the circumstance of a life-limiting diagnosis, or when the child has entered into a palliative care and end-of-life phase of his disease, questions and concerns from classmates eventually arise. Fears about their friend’s medical condition, his abilities and disabilities develop. A visit to the child’s classroom should be made available by […]

Happy Easters with My Dad

Posted on April 12, 2009 - by Eric Tomei

One of my favorite times of the year is the Easter holiday. The weather is starting to turn nice, everybody is in a good mood, there is plenty of good food to eat and everyone is on a sugar rush from all of the candy that is consumed. I always looked forward to Easter as a kid because of the simple fact of dying those Easter eggs, a tradition that many kids look forward to each year. My Mom absolutely used to hate dying Easter eggs with us. She didn’t like anything about it, but thankfully my […]

Death Creates Secondary Losses

Posted on April 12, 2009 - by admin

by Harriet Hodgson Death creates many secondary losses. Some are major, some are minor, and some are just annoying. After four family members died within nine months I coped with dozens of secondary losses. I was in such shock at the time, however, I did not realize how powerful these losses could be. According to Bob Deits, author of “Life After Loss,” secondary losses are really a series of losses. These losses hit and hurt the core of your being, Deits says, and “how you measure your happiness and value your life.” Well, I can honestly say I didn’t have […]

Easter Reminds Us That We Can Rise From Our Grief

Posted on April 11, 2009 - by Pamela Prime

By Pamela Prime — Easter and the days leading up to it are a sacred time for many. In some ways, this is an extraordinary time, a time filled with mystery. It was a time I could not fully relate to because it was about the mysteries of Jesus and didn’t have much to do with me or my life. It really was not until my daughter died of Sudden Infant Syndrome that I really appreciated this as sacred time, a time to identify with the God who suffers and the God who rises. I began to see it as […]

Meaning of Easter: Time to Grieve Before the ‘Resurrection’

Posted on April 10, 2009 - by David Daniels

By David Daniels, M.D. — Easter is the season of renewal. But what does this mean in terms of our grieving the loss of loved ones? In the Christian tradition, Easter is the time of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Many Christians believe in the literal truth of this, of the resurrection and of life everlasting. Many Christians and others also believe the account of Jesus’ death but in a symbolic way, as a representation of undying spirit. Thus, Easter is a time both of mourning the passing of loved ones and of rejoicing in their lives. In either […]

Good Friday: Even in Darkest Night, Sun Waits to Rise

Posted on April 10, 2009 - by Claire Perkins

I’ve been thinking about the Easter story as a metaphor for my own journey through grief. I’ve been thinking about Good Friday and the days leading up to it, because in reality that’s where the Easter story begins. It begins with the dark night of the soul. It begins with a death. In my life, the darkness wound through years of watching helplessly as my son Cameron struggled with addiction and, at times, homelessness. The darkness only deepened with his death by overdose in the county jail on May 3, 2004. As in the Bible’s story of Jesus’ death, there […]

The Season of Renaissance

Posted on April 9, 2009 - by Yvonne Lancaster

By Yvonne Lancaster — The yard was still icy near the fence where it hides from the lowering sun. As a brave New Englander who shoveled her way through the long months of winter, it was heartening to see and feel the crusty brown earth beneath my feet and see crocuses peeking at me with their little green buds. Since childhood, I have always enjoyed the changing seasons. In many ways, nature taught me about life, death and many things that matter. In the summer, we were allowed to play outside until the street lights came on. In the fall, […]