Lisa Buell

Lisa Buell is a writer, activist, mother of three and parent of two. She works with Children’s Hospice and Palliative Care Coalition, Partnership for Parents, as a parent advocate bringing a parent’s perspective to the development of palliative care programs and policies. A published author, Lisa is writing her first book, entitled “Call Button,” a collection of essays about the continuation of life in the face of treatment, navigating the waters of grief, celebrating communities and the clinicians who care.

Articles:

Open to hope

Couple Grieves Lost Child at Different Pace

I could feel the pressure, my skin becoming tight, my breath shallow and cold, the room too full of her memory. And I would go, from corner to corner, wall […]

Open to hope

Lucky Hat: Touchstones, Rituals Keep Parents’ Hope Alive

The double doors are closed to Three North at Stanford Children’s Hospital, where my daughter Madison is supposed to get her chemotherapy. It’s our second session, Maddy is seven months […]

Open to hope

Choosing to Live Even as a Child is Dying

Until her last breath, I never believed my daughter Madison was going to die. Three years after she took that last breath I considered that maybe she wouldn’t be coming […]

Open to hope

The Yin and Yang of Caring for Terminally Ill Child

Alternative therapies weren’t the first line of defense when our five-and-a-half month old was diagnosed with cancer. We opted for what was proven; we put Madison’s life in the hands of exceptional […]

Open to hope

Hard Time for Moms Near the End of the Journey

It had been a warm summer, the breeze filled with the scent of sweet jasmine. The bright magenta of the Bougainvillea bloomed with fierceness, its roots running deep, tapping into […]

Open to hope

Does Grief End? Rediscovering Laughter

I heard the sound coming from somewhere close, swelling from the deepest part of my being. I was almost startled when I felt it resonate through my body, felt the […]

Open to hope

The First Mother’s Day After Maddy’s Death

By Lisa Buell — I got a truck full of manure delivered to me the first Mother’s Day after my daughter Madison died. I had been sleeping in, hoping the […]

Open to hope

What It’s Really Like When Your Child is Terminally Ill

By Lisa Buell — How could death possibly happen to a child? We all enter into an unspoken contract that our children will outlive us. It’s what gives us the […]

Open to hope

Taking Care of Your Relationship After the Death of a Child

By Lisa Buell — Valentine’s Day is a day for lovers, a time to celebrate our passion for one another. But what happens after our child has died? Our innocence […]

Open to hope

Emotions of a Diagnosis

By Lisa Buell —

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.