Mother Loses Son to Addiction

To all of my fellow parents of deceased children — mothers and fathers — I offer greetings.  I too have suffered this unthinkable loss and know the grief that accompanies it.

My son, Danny, died on July 1, 2008, from an overdose of alcohol and prescription drugs, a death all too common in this day and age.  Shortly after he passed, I read that the incidence of deaths due to overdose has quadrupled in young people between the ages of 18 and 23.  Dan was right in there at 22.

Needless to say, this has caused all of us horrific pain.    My only solace in any of this is what I know to be true about the spirit world. I would like to share that knowledge with you, but first let me say that there was a time when I did not believe in anything remotely like what I am going to talk about.   If I had not experienced all of this first-hand, I would never have believed it, nor would I be telling you about it now.  But it did all happen in 1971 when I was in my early 20’s and as a result I became aware of the presence of spirit.

Spiritual Healing

Let me backtrack a little.  I had been sick since 1967 with Crohn’s Disease.  Blood transfusions administered in 1969 infected me with the Hepatitis C virus. By 1971, I was very sick and in desperate straits.  That is the only reason why I decided to look into information that I had been given 2 years earlier but had dismissed as nonsense!

I had been told of Harry Edwards, a British “spiritual healer” who could actually heal people.  I had never heard of such things before, and it sounded preposterous to me. This man was in England, I was in the United States, and all I was asked to do was write him a letter.  The doctors had told my parents that my illness was very progressed and that if a cure was not discovered, I would not live another 10 years.  That scared me!

My letter was hand-delivered to Mr. Edwards by my father and within 2 days, I began to experience energy and positive feelings as I hadn’t known in years.  That was the beginning of a healing experience, (you can read more about it at: www.sheriperl.com) that turned my health around; my entire life took on a new direction.

Student of Spiritualism

I was fascinated with everything to do with healing, and I wanted to understand how it was possible for energy that originated in England to reach me in New Jersey.  I became a student of spiritualism across the board.  The first books I read were written by Harry Edwards himself, who was the first person to introduce me to the idea of a spirit realm that existed and actually interacted with our own world.

Years of study ensued during which I was introduced to the work of many great mediums who also demonstrated to me the presence of a spirit realm and the continuation of personality after death.  I was fortunate to become a regular member of Jane Robert’s ESP classes in which an entity named Seth came through Jane and spoke to us about the eternal validity of the soul.

Connecting with Son

Having been healed by spirits, I was naturally grateful and drawn to doing this kind of healing work myself.  After Mr. Edwards crossed over in 1976, he came through medium Glenn Dove to reassure me that he was still close by and would continue to do his healing work.  As a result of that, I have stayed with my healing, teaching and writing.

Little did I know that one day I would live to bury a son at 22 and that this work would become my greatest solace, for I know with certainty what many parents do not know: that Danny has survived death, that he is nearby, that he still loves us as we do him and that we will see him again one day.

Until that day comes, I will pursue “connecting up” with Danny through any means that are open to me.  I will be writing articles to share much of that with you, as I am currently working on a book so that I can share all of this with a wider audience.

Visit Sheri’s website: www.sheriperl.com

Read more from Sheri on Open to Hope: Loss, Bereavement and Robin Williams – Open to Hope