Compassion, Winter 2021

Winter 2021 - Compassion | www.tcf.org.uk 17 replica made of the slippers, but I didn’t know how to go about it. Then, during the early part of the lockdown in April 2020, I had the idea of looking online to see if I could find anyone who could make a copy of them. After searching, I eventually came across a laser scanning company in Sheffield and I wrote to them – a general enquiry, explaining my idea and asking if they could help. To my amazement I received a reply from John. The opening sentence of his email said : “Firstly may I say how sorry I am for your loss. I lost my brother in 2015 through his depression and although they say time is a great healer I have yet to get there.” When the pandemic restrictions were lifted for a while, my husband and I went up to Sheffield in September 2020 to meet John, taking Duncan’s slippers with us. We spent several hours with John whilst we shared our experiences of grief and how we hoped to have a permanent replica of Duncan’s slippers for comfort. Once the scanning process was completed we came home and waited for John to use the scan to produce the slippers which you can see in our photo. What do they mean to me? Well, I wasn’t sure how to put it into words in order to be able to share the photo with you, but recently I have been reading the most recent book by Francesca Stavrakopoulou and the quotes from her book put into words the feelings which I have. The slippers give me a sense of Duncan’s body, how he strode through life and how he lit up our lives with his kindness, his sense of humour and his love for his family. I will be forever grateful to John. I keep the “new” slippers at the bottom of our stairs so that, each morning I see them and am reminded of Duncan’s firm footprint in this life. In memory of our beloved son, Duncan Andrew Phillips 25.03.74 – 25.04.13 For ever loved Sheila Phillips