Open to Hope Articles
Do you want to read stories of others who have been where you are? Are you looking for bereavement help, and advice? Look no further. We offer over 3,000 articles written by our Open to Hope authors.
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Organ Donation Can Ease Pain of Child-Loss
January 24, 2009
by Sandy Fox Thanks to a cornea transplant, Jason was able to see again for the first time in 31 years; at the age of 39, a kidney transplant saved David’s life; for Richard, a bone transplant meant the chance to live a normal life again; and when Darcy’s son gets older, she’ll tell him about the transplant that saved her life. All of these are examples of people who received organ donations. In my book, one of the stories I wrote about is the death of two children in the same family from a car accident and the donation […]
Say Goodbye to Guilt
January 23, 2009
By Doris Jeanette, Psy.D. — Family members frequently feel guilt when someone dies. Mothers feel especially responsible for their children. No matter what the rational reason for the death, they feel as if it is their fault. And children can sometimes carry guilt into their adult years, thinking they had something to do with the death of a loved one. Guilt is one of the worst experiences known to humans. It ties you up in knots and makes you feel unworthy and miserable. Guilt is the result of thinking that you have done something wrong. The reason you think that […]
Forgive Because There’s No Other Choice
January 15, 2009
Donna writes in: It’s been 7 months since my beautiful little boy was tragically run over by his father’s pickup truck.? I have been to a therapist since, I’m in EMDR therapy since witnessing the trauma that followed, I take medication to ease my emotions.? But yet, there is no friend, family or therapist who can help me ease my anger?and stop blaming my husband for this accident.?
Helping a Friend Who Loses a Child
January 14, 2009
The Message By Betsy Bottino Arenella – My spiritual awakening began on December 11, 2004, with a life-altering phone call. I was walking down the front hall stairs in a bathrobe, my wet hair wrapped in a towel, when I saw my husband standing at the bottom. He was holding the telephone and looking up at me with a strange expression. “Bad news,” my husband said. “Sophia passed away last night.” My legs buckled and I fell into a sitting position on the stairs. Sophia was my best friend Melyné’s rosy-cheeked, active toddler. She had turned one the week before […]
Remembering a Child Who Lived a Short Life
January 14, 2009
By Jenny Hander – One of the greatest tragedies in losing a baby is that you don’t get the chance to form enough memories to carry you through a lifetime of living without them. It isn’t that you forget to remember; it is that you don’t have many memories to recall. Though I think of my sweet daughter every day, there are some days I feel as though I created her in my own mind. I ask myself, “Was she ever really here?” I know that she was, but she was here such a short time and so much time […]
October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Month
January 14, 2009
By Nina Bennett – I know all too well the devastation of pregnancy and infant loss. My precious granddaughter Maddy, after a healthy full-term pregnancy and normal labor, with no indication of fetal distress, slid still from her mother’s womb. She was a perfectly formed, beautiful baby, with every indication that she would survive delivery. But she did not. As you can imagine, our entire family was devastated. It turns out that Maddy was one of more than one million babies in the U.S. to die in pregnancy or in the first few months of life last year. For a […]
Why the Stillborn Should Have a Certificate of Birth
January 14, 2009
Copyright by Dr. Joanne Cacciatore. My story began 14 years ago. On July 27, 1994, I gave birth to my fourth child. It was my baby girl’s due date. About 15 minutes prior to birth, my beloved child, Cheyenne, died. After a full postmortem evaluation, the pathologist could find “no determinable cause” for her death. I was left with countless questions and few answers. About one week after her death, I received Cheyenne’s death certificate in the mail. What I really wanted, though, was the record of her birth. So I called the vital records office in Arizona to request […]
