Category Archives: Mourning

In Support of Grieving Mothers

The internet is a dark and scary place these days. Everywhere you turn it’s full of divisive commentary, disheartening stories, and an endlessly unnerving string of insults lobbed back and forth between the nameless, faceless entities hiding behind their computer keyboards, typing with all the courage of someone who will never face the ramifications of their actions.

Nothing is sacred online. It’s a paradoxical reality juxtaposed against the scenes we come into contact with, in everyday life, face to face. A life that for most of us over the last six months, due to the limitations of COVID restrictions has been forced to be one lived further removed from the ever-important act of human connection.

While some find this form of isolation to be a hindrance and struggle with their mental and emotional health, others have found themselves freer than ever to use it as a shield as they perpetuate hate and spread cultural and societal dissonance all from the safety of their computer screens.

Surely, one would think there must be some things we as a whole can agree on. The belief that at heart, people are basically good tells us that in general and by majority most people wouldn’t want to harm us, speak ill of us, or degrade us in any way. It’s this belief that keeps society running as we interact with each other on even the smallest account or inconvenience; such as bumping into someone with your grocery cart or shifting over on the sidewalk to make room as you pass by another person on their daily walk. It’s these small circumstances in which we show the basic model of humanity in consideration for others’ wellbeing.

I’m not sure why the comments I read on the internet surprise me anymore. Moreover, I’m not really sure why I continue to read any internet comments at all. It’s a predictable cesspool of tirades, insults, and bizarre trajectories. I often wonder where these people come from, and who talks like that. As I mentioned before, you’d never see it face to face.

If there’s anything at all you’d assume we could collectively agree on it’s the sanctity of the depth of grief for a mother of loss. And if you did indeed assume this, unfortunately you’d be undeniably wrong. In a world where every individual happening is readily available to be seen on an endless loop it’s also often picked apart by internet vultures like nothing more than roadkill on the highway.

Earlier this week Chrissy Teigen and her husband John Legend announced they had suffered a miscarriage. Furthermore, Chrissy was far enough along in her pregnancy that she then had to deliver their son, Jack, stillborn. In a poignant and touching act of empathy for others and in commemoration of their son’s life that was never to be, they shared their most intimate photos of themselves holding him for their first and only time.

It should be noted that there are organizations devoted solely to the documentation process for these families. In the midst of their grief and pain, they meet these families in their lowest moments to make sure they capture the only photos they will ever have of their child. It’s an act of service few are called to offer, and even fewer will receive. It’s akin to sainthood to crawl down into the chasm of the grief of the bereaved parent to offer a light in the darkness of their dwelling. Sometimes, it’s a lifeline as well.

As with all parents of loss we want to know more than anything that our child’s life mattered. That it does still matter, as much as the living children of anyone else. We want so desperately to say their names, to show their photos, to share them with the world just as any proud parents would. As I sit her typing these words on what would have been my daughter’s twelfth birthday, I’m so drawn to the heart and vulnerability behind the photos Chrissy and John shared, and grateful for the illumination it provides for those who have traveled down this emotional road themselves. It’s a road that often leaves you stuck solely in the shadows.

Parents of loss are enigmatic creatures to those who stand on the outside of the circle. It’s not surprising that it is so difficult to fathom the enormity of grief when you’ve lost a child, and how it permeates every aspect of one’s life, if you yourself have not experienced it. How do you describe the array of colors of the spectrum to someone who can only see in black and white?

What is surprising is that even in the most heart rendering situation, like child loss, is that there are those who are so far removed from the ability to sympathize with even a modicum of care, concern, or sorrow that they have conversely been propelled into the realm of criticism and judgment.

I was astonished to find that on pictures of Chrissy and John holding Jack from Chrissy’s hospital bed, IVs attached, exhausted and crying, but looking at him with such love and longing that so much hate was spewed at them on the internet. Comments came flooding in.

“Doesn’t change the fact that you’re evil. God doesn’t like what you’ve done.”

“Typical behavior from celebrities. It’s all about the publicity.”

“You willingly sacrificed your unborn child.”

“What is wrong with you? Are you that desperate for media attention?”

“Um who does a photo shoot after a miscarriage?”

It was too much. I honestly couldn’t believe what I was reading. I shared with my husband what I had seen. We were both incredulous. No person who has been forced to hold their dead child in their arms would ever say these things. It’s because we know. We know the heartbreak and trauma. We know the pain and isolation. We know the feelings of longing, and loss, and failure. We know these photos are all we will ever have.

I share the same photo of my daughter over and over. She’s sitting in her adaptable chair that provided safe, comfortable support, seemingly looking right at the camera, and has on an adorably brightly colored outfit, complete with feathered headband. I love it. She looks so animated here. Her cheeks a rosy glow, and on her lips a hint of a smile. Two weeks after it was taken, she died in my arms of the terminal genetic illness she was born with. We knew our time was fleeting and now it’s the last picture we’ll ever have. If we don’t continue to say her name and share her photos, who will?

Running Away and Joining the Circus (and Finding Myself in the Process)

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I first met my dear friend, Shelly Ogden in the most unfortunate setting; the hallway of a hotel in St. Petersburg, FL after our first session of the NTSAD Annual Family Conference in 2010. We were both attending for the first time. Miss Elliott, who had infantile Tay-Sachs and Kaleb, who had infantile Sandhoff were nearly the same age, and had both recently been diagnosed. What I remember most clearly is Shelly stopping me in the hallway and telling me that she just wanted me to know that I was saying all the same things in that session that she was feeling, but couldn’t bring herself to say.

The thing about living with these rare diseases, and impending loss is how instantly, and how intimately the bonds we parents forge are. Both Miss Elliott and Kaleb died in 2012, and while Miss Elliott died in February, Kaleb died on October 3; Miss Elliott’s birthday. Shelly texted me early that morning to let me know that Kaleb must have wanted to go be with her to help her celebrate. I was gutted for her.

And the thing about outliving your medically fragile child, is that in many cases you’re suddenly, nearly completely lost. When your everyday life revolves around continuous care, medications, positioning, appointments, therapies, etc., the silence can be deafening. Constricting in your lungs like a lack of air leaving you writing in pain, desolation, and despair.

As Shelly shares below, though she couldn’t run away from the pain she was feeling, she was desperate to find a reason to be, and to find meaning, and value in her life. She was desperate to find Shelly again. And she did so, by looking in the last place she would have expected to go searching:

“I ran away and joined the circus after the death of my son. Okay, not really, but let me explain. Kaleb had infantile Sandoff disease and died just eight days after his fourth birthday. Grief can consume you, especially when you are grieving the loss of a child, if you let it, and I was determined that I was not going to let it. I never wanted my surviving child, Christopher, to feel like his life was less important, so I decided to show up for him, and continue to live for Kaleb, who didn’t get that chance. Even when I didn’t want to do it. Even when it was a struggle to make myself do it. I owe that much to the rest of my family – and also to Kaleb.

Ogden Family

After his funeral, when family went home, and Dave went back to work I had nothing. I felt lost. I felt like I was wandering without a purpose. I’d go window shopping to kill time but even that was too hard. I’d see a mom walking with her son and I’d literally have to run out of the store or risk breaking down in front of everyone. I then found myself making daily trips to the cemetery because that is where I felt close to him, and because I couldn’t stand being inside our empty house. On my way back from one of those trips, I stopped into a women’s only dance studio and bought a membership. I decided it was time to start taking care of myself. I thought I’d start off easy and attend an aerial yoga class, but when I got there, the instructor warned me that what I was about to take was an aerial silks class. I was already there, and I didn’t know the difference, so I decided I’d stay.

Little did I know what I was in for. I am a retired law enforcement officer, and I’ve been through some tough training but this class was the most physically demanding Shelly Aerial thing I’d ever done. First and foremost, I am afraid of heights which was a challenge. The silks physically hurt my feet, and my forearms, hands, and biceps felt like they were one fire. My entire body was screaming, but for one hour I found that I could focus on something other than the pain in my heart, and that was an amazing feeling. One thing I have discovered, as I dove head first into the world of circus arts, is that the more I learn to “fly” the closer I feel to Kaleb, I no longer feel the need to visit the cemetery every day.

The friends I have made in the aerial world are some of the most supportive and caring people I have ever met, and they’ve changed the way I look at a lot of things. My first instructor, Jessie, played such an instrumental part in my healing process. There are countless times when she would sit with me and just let me cry on her shoulder, which was very therapeutic. She’d encourage me to join class when I was ready during those difficult days where I felt like I was constantly on the verge of tears, and I always felt better out of class.

This past August, I asked my current instructor, Lauriel, to choreograph a piece for me to Danny Gokey’s “Tell Your Heart to Beat Again”. I told her I wasn’t the kind of person who could perform in front of an audience, but I wanted to record this piece and post it on social media in honor of Kaleb’s angelversary. I explained that this anniversary would mean that Kaleb would be gone, longer than he lived. What she came up with was even better than what I expected, and was packed with so much emotion. I was so proud of what she had done and when I finally got it recorded we sat together hugging each other and crying. The release of having finished it, was more than just finally recording the piece, but the emotion of the song and the action that was put into the routine all hit me at the end.

I have always been the quiet observer, the wall flower if you will. I like to see everything going on around me, but I prefer to stay out of the lime light, until recently Shelly Circus when Lauriel talked me into performing. I stepped out of my comfort zone and become a performer equipped with identification that titled me “Talent”. So, for one night, I joined the circus, and the spotlight was on me. It was oddly both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. I was bolstered by the fact that my oldest son and husband were in the audience to support me and I know Kaleb was in the air right next to me.

I’ve decided to continue to live even when my world has been turned upside down. It was a choice I had to make, and it didn’t come easy. Some days the grief is crippling, but I think about the life Kaleb had to live, one that left him paralyzed, in silence, tormented by seizures, unable to enjoy the taste of food, and he reminds me, if he can do that, I can do this – I can live fully and honor him. I have discovered that in order to navigate through life after the loss of a child you have to find your “thing,” your passion. My faith gives me hope, my family gives me a reason, and my aerial world gives me wings.’

“There is freedom waiting for you,
On the breezes of the sky,
And you ask, ‘What if I fall?’
Oh but my darling, what if you fly?”
Erin Hanson

Symbolic Mourning

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I couldn’t be more thankful to Rebecca Chappell, whom I’ve (unfortunately) had the pleasure to get to know over the last year through the National Tay-Sachs and Allied Diseases Association, for sharing her story of Symbolic Mourning after the loss of her beautiful and precious Colby earlier this year.

When my son died, his absence felt almost tangible. There is of course the absence of his physical presence, but because of his special needs there was also the absence of the machines and the people that helped us provide the extra care that made his life possible. Colby was diagnosed at eight months with Canavan, a degenerative neurological disease, where he would never develop skills beyond that of a 2 month old. In addition to always having the needs of a newborn, he also needed a suction machine to clear his airways, a stander to prevent problems to his muscles and joints that would come from not being able to stand and walk, special chairs that held up his head and kept him from falling sideways, a nebulizer that helped him breathe. He required constant attention.

While the reality of having people and machines in my home and the constant demand of a completely dependent child were not something I would have chosen, they had become my way of life. Now that they were all gone, the house was empty and my life had changed overnight. I felt lonely and without purpose. My arms that had constantly held Colby were now empty and the pictures from his life didn’t feel like enough to fill such an enormous void. I wanted to scream at people when they asked how I was doing, “my son just died, how do you think I am doing?” I also felt offended when people didn’t ask or didn’t know. I began to feel that I needed some way to remember him, to share him, to literally mark myself as the mother of an angel.

As I struggled with feelings of grief that I didn’t know how to express, I realized that what I needed was to “mourn” my son. In years past people would go into “mourning” after the death of a loved one. They would follow social conventions of the time, including wearing black for a designated period. This allowed the person that had lost a loved one to express their grief, but also let others know so they could offer condolences. Today most people don’t wear black or even have a time set aside to mourn. It left me feeling like life is just supposed to go “back to normal”, which of course it never would for me. Every time I left the house or did “normal” things I felt like I was betraying Colby’s memory. A part of me died with my son and I could not return to life as if he had never existed. I decided what I needed was a symbol of my grief, a symbol that I was in mourning.

I wanted something to represent my grief, to remind me of the special bond between Colby and I and give me the opportunity to talk about my son all at the same time. My first thought was a tattoo, but depending on where it is placed it wouldn’t be as visual as I had in mind. Some people are able to wear or carry something that belonged to their loved one, but Colby didn’t have a lot of things that could be used for this purpose. I also researched different types of jewelry but nothing really fit my image of what I wanted. So I decided to put together my own bracelet, which itself ended up being a therapeutic process. I wanted it to be mainly black as a traditional representation of mourning, so I purchased some black beads and a black ribbon to string them all. Next I found charms that would remind me of him; a heart, a prayer charm, a dragonfly, the first letter of his name, his birthstone, and finally a tiny frame for his photo.

Creating my mourning bracelet has had the desired effect for me. I am proud to wear it. It is my outward symbol that while my life may have changed, Colby is not forgotten. The beads softly click together as I move my arm, quietly paying tribute to my angel son as I go about my day. More than one person has mention that it is beautiful, and one mother, who had also lost a child, even said she would buy one from me it I wanted to start making them. The void he left is still enormous but the heavy feeling that I am not doing enough to remember him has been lifted and no matter where I am I can look down on my wrist and see him smiling back up at me.