Pat, the Executive Director of The Compassionate Friends, shares her story of help and hope.
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Tags: grief, hope, Multiple Deaths, radio
Dr. Gloria and Dr. Heidi Horsley
Dr. Gloria Horsley and Dr. Heidi Horsley are a mother/daughter team and internationally recognized grief experts. They are the founders of The Open to Hope Foundation and the hosts of The Open to Hope Show. In addition, Dr. Gloria is a board member for The Compassionate Friends and Dr. Heidi is an adjunct professor at Columbia University and has a private practice in manhattan. Their message is that others have made it through the grief journey and so can you, if you do not yet have hope lean on theirs.
I recently lost my 37 year old daughter, Tara, to Stage 5 Breast Cancer that had already spread to her lymph nodes before the cancer was diagnosed. At the time she was diagnosed she also needed a hysterectomy. Her cancer was hormone driven. They did a Pet Scan and found a lesion on her spine and a small lesion on her liver. After doing cryoblasion on her liver, she had to have emergency gall bladder removal. It wasn’t until after the surgeries that they were able to start chemo. By this time the cancer had spread to her bone marrow. The chemo knocked out her immune system and the cancer was leeching calcium from her bones causing multiple compression fractures in her spine. She developed hypercalcemia and was unable to take chemo treatments which led to further spreading of the cancer to the meneges that covered her spine and her brain. She fought a valiant fight, leaning on the Lord for strength throughout her battle with cancer. She left behind a 7 year old daughter, an 11 year old son, and a 14 year old son, and a husband who loved her and took care of her to the last breath she took. I am blessed to have been able to be there for her and help her family while they were going through everything. I am very angry and hate cancer. My husband passed in January 2002 from Stage 4 Lung Cancer. Then I lost my 24 year old son-in-law to brain cancer that was caused by exposure to cancer causing chemicals and artillery fire in Afganistan in 2011 and now my daughter March 16, 2013. I want to say ENOUGH already to cancer. How many people need to lose their lives to this horrible thing. I was with each of them when they passed. I am finding it more difficult to get a grip on losing my daughter. I just want to say thank you for the information on your web site. It has helped me to look at some things, and it is still so fresh a wound that I am still off guard and things sometimes overtake me and I feel helpless. I will continue to glean information from your website. God bless you.
Im sorry to hear about your loss. I also lost my daughter to bleeding in the head in December 2012. It will be her birthday in May and I have just lost it again. My pain is as if it just happened. Im at my ends wit. Am I losing it or what- one minute I feel as if I have overcome the pain and tears and then another minutes im all in pieces. One doctor told me to just pack up everything for her and forget about her- he must be crazy. I look at her picture everyday and talk to her everyday. But sometimes im not sure if im making any head way in healing. Does anyone else have this problem. thanks for any help
Hi, my name is Jim, On Jan 8th 2012 I lost my wonderful 20 year old son Nathan. I try so hard to get past this grieving and just can’t. I look at his picture every single day and look for some kind of answer on why this happened. Nathan died from doing a dosage of Nyquil and then a friend handed him a pain pill that caused the two to have a reaction. When I found him there was only a small pulse. I tried so hard to bring him back and couldnt. It was so sudden and my heart is grieving so very much… I log into facebook every day and talk to him, I know he cant read it but a little part of me feels better thinking I am talking to him. I dont know how to get past this. I avoid my friend and family because I dont want them to think I am just an emotional basket case…
I just want to say thank you. Its been 21 years and I am still in so much pain. I have tried to talk to others but I really do not think anyone understands. I know life can be beautiful, but the beauty fades more and more each time I awake. Bless you.