John’s story

I literally owe my life to TCF. When Katherine. my only child, died I could not cope with it at all. I had already lost my wife, have no close family, and what few friends I had seemed to keep their distance. I was totally alone. Over the next four years I just went down and down. Drinking too much, developing all kinds of mental problems, not caring whether I lived or died. Then one day, purely by chance, I saw an ad in a magazine that gave a phone number to call if you were a bereaved parent. Curious I rang and it was The Compassionate Friends. A very nice lady asked my story and, for the first time in four, lonely miserable years, I found someone who would listen – someone who cared.

Without that chance phone call I am not sure if I would still be here today.

This is why I am leaving a legacy to TCF so that they can continue to reach out to the sad, lonely, friendless people out there. Losing a child is a miserable empty road. No one should be left to walk it alone.