National Bereaved Parents Day 2023

Safina and Joe

"I lost my son Joe aged 23 in sudden unexplained unexpected circumstances in September 2019. Having never done so before I began writing poetry. The words come to me & I write them down. This can happen at random times night or day. I often write during sleepless nights. It enables me to channel thoughts & emotions & it also gives me a way to keep communicating with Joe as I still have so many things to tell him".
- Safina

Photo by Javardh on U nsplash

Andrew, Anne and David

Allyson and Will

My name is Allyson and I live in the Western Isles in an isolated village, without a phone. My beautiful son, Will, took his own life in February 2020. He was forty years old and had suffered with a rare and complicated form of epilepsy since his teens. He was my only child.

My imminent retirement and lockdown provided the opportunity to immerse myself in a project where I could talk to Will about what I was doing and explain that every corner of my garden was a memorial to him and the happy times we had shared.

Alison and Dominic

This is one of the last family photos we had taken. Dominic (far right next to my husband) died on 25.10.20 aged 23). He died in his sleep from SUDEP which is sudden unexpected death from epilepsy.

Life as we knew it completely stopped and I truly wished that we had all died together because the pain was so unbearable. It still is in many ways but the shock has faded a little now and with lots of support from family, good friends, a Therapist and TCF we are building a different life. It will never be as good as the old one and to me will always be like sitting on a chair with only 3 legs - sometimes I can balance and many other times I fall off and have to get back up again and find that point of balance again.