When my son was stillborn in July of 2014, one of the first things I did was start looking for something to read that would tell me how I should be feeling and what to do about it. I’ve always been a reader and have always looked for resources to help me through challenging times in my life. But this time, I realized there was no way to resolve my grief. I simply needed to survive it.
I didn’t know HOW to grieve and I was looking for a resource that might guide me.
What I found were several long text-books written by psychologists, a few novels, and a few memoirs. But none were quite right. They were either too long and daunting, or too unrelatable for me at the moment.
Over two years later I answered a post about contributing an essay for a new book that would be edited by Nathalie Himmelrich, founder of the Grieving Parents Support Network. She was looking for real stories, written by grieving parents about their first year of loss. She wanted to compile these essays into a resource for newly bereaved parents. I was thrilled to have my essay about yoga and its role in my grieving process accepted.
This new book, Surviving the First Year of Child Loss: Personal Stories from Grieving Parents, is now due to be published on September 1, 2017. This is a project that has been born from love and through the grassroots efforts of Nathalie and grieving parents from around the world. The book includes 26 essays that are short and easy to read. Each story includes a message of hope for the newly bereaved and concrete ways to survive that gut-wrenching first year.
The authors of these essays have been there.
They have experienced tremendous loss first hand. In my first year, I struggled whenever anyone who hadn’t lost a child tried to give me advice or comfort. How could they tell me anything, when they hadn’t experienced it themselves? We parents in this club-that-no-one-wants-to-be-in KNOW. We know what it’s like and we know how it feels.
Reading the stories in this book will do much to provide hope that it IS possible to continue to live without their child. This is exactly the sort of resource I was searching for when I needed it most. Short stories I could pick up and read when I had the energy, written by people that understood what I was feeling.
This book is a not for profit resource. Our hope is that it will be donated to newly bereaved parents in hospitals, bereavement centers, and support groups throughout the world. I can only imagine how a resource like this would have helped me through my first year.
In order to make this happen we are humbly asking for support:
Pre-order you book at a discounted price of 30% off. The discounted price offer ends August 20, 2017!
Donate to help with publishing and editing costs. Each donation will help get this book into the hands of a newly bereaved parent.
Follow us on Facebook for updates, or visit our website for more information!
This project continues to need help from the community in order to thrive. Thank you in advance for your support!
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