Grappling with Grief

My Sepsis Story: Kim Smith

By Kim Smith   I’m one very lucky lady to have survived sepsis, but I became a quadruple amputee because of it and I’ve been left with post-sepsis syndrome which causes daily struggles too. In November 2017, I was on holiday in Spain and started getting pain in my left side kidney area. I suspected […]

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Widowed at 24

By Widowed at 24   I was 24 years old when I was widowed; my husband of two years and lifelong best friend was only 29 when he departed. It seemed impossible that someone as full of life as him, with his contagious laugh and thirst for adventure, could be gone, almost as soon as […]

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Stepping Stones: Stephanie Dawson

By Stephanie Dawson   When I think about grief, I think of death right away, as most of us do, then it goes right into other types of loss; divorce, career, health, home, never becoming a desired result (parent, professional athlete, writer, traveler, etc). All types of loss are valid, painful, and need love and […]

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Dylan’s Army: Sarah Day

By Sarah Day   My name is Sarah Day and the best thing that has ever happened to me was becoming a mum to my four children. The worst thing that has happened to me was losing one of them. I’m sharing my feelings about bereavement in my life in the hope it may help […]

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Chapter 2: Nicky Wake

By Nicky Wake   I lost my soulmate and husband Andy Wake in March 2020. He was the John to my Yoko, a beautiful, wonderful gentle soul and the world is a much poorer place now that Andy isn’t here. I met Andy during the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002. We actually met online […]

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Widowed Tango Foxtrot

By YEG Widow   Grief is an individual journey, defined by the traveller carving the path. No one chooses to be on this new road, but what each of us can choose is how we walk it, dance it, and move forward on it. My widowhood journey began on August 10, 2021. My husband passed […]

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The Widow Squad: Melissa Pierce

By Melissa Pierce   I didn’t think I could do this alone… raising and parenting two really energetic and rambunctious boys. And I didn’t have to, I had my husband Dave. We were a really good team, great partners and parents…together. We loved each other and this family we created — the four of us… […]

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Pieces of Me: Sasha Howell

By Sasha Howell   When your parents die a piece of you dies with them. However, when your parents die, a new piece of you is also born. I was 29 years old on January 28, 2013, when my Mom was killed instantly in a car crash. We had returned from a trip to Cuba […]

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Harry’s Story: Derek Richford

By Derek Richford   Harry was born on November 2, 2017, and died seven days later following gross failings in care at East Kent Hospitals Trust in Kent, U.K. My daughter-in-law Sarah and my son Tom had a text-book pregnancy with no issues at all, it was considered to be a low-risk pregnancy. When he […]

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The Grief House: Emily Smith

By Emily Smith   I’ve been experiencing grief since childhood, though at that time it was unnamed. Grief was an unwelcomed, nameless visitor sitting at the dinner table, lurking in the shadows. I first experienced grief as I witnessed my mother’s struggles with her mental health intensify, to the point that being a mother was […]

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