Elizabeth and Lesley, authors of this website, have come up with some solutions and ideas to help you when you are not able to hold a funeral for your loved one.
In these difficult times, with the global spread of the coronavirus, many countries have banned gatherings as we try to halt the disease. Lots of these gatherings are important to us, but the loss of a funeral, on top of the normal stresses of grief, is a huge additional burden to shoulder.
As we go through life, in every society, we have rituals that mark the passage of time and the milestones we reach. We have gatherings and ceremonies for birth, christenings, school leaving, graduations, engagement, marriage, anniversaries and finally funerals. Funerals are the final ritual of a life, marking the passing of a loved one and honouring their life. As such they are hugely important to us.
They are a time to look back and remember all the milestones and achievements of that person’s life. It’s a time to come together and grieve and renew relationships we will need into the future. It’s a time to reflect and mourn, and to create a ritual that we can remember and treasure as our tribute to our loved one.
So what happens when this is taken away from us. You might not be able to hold a funeral for your loved one, or you might not be able to go to a funeral which you wanted to attend due to travel bans or long distances.
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Check out our lovely range of memorial jewelry for any lost loved one. Pendants, necklaces, rings or bracelets, we have them all in all kinds of styles. Choose for yourself or buy as a sympathy gift.
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For USA Residents:
Please help our colleagues at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, USA by joining in their research study:
Losing a child to cancer is devastating, and there is a critical need to develop effective supports.
A federally-funded study in the United States (US) evaluating different types of support for bereaved parents is currently seeking participants. Parents residing in the US may be eligible if they lost a child diagnosed with cancer at least 6 months ago and live in one of the following states: NY, NJ, PA, CT, FL, or TN (other eligible states are being added, please complete the survey to check with us).
To find out if you may be eligible, please click here, visit our website at bereavedparentsupportstudy.com, or email us at parentstudy@mskcc.org.
Our free downloadable and printable document "The 10 Most Important Things You Can Do To Survive Your Grief And Get On With Life" will help you to be positive day to day.
The 10 points are laid out like a poem on two pretty pages which you can pin on your fridge door to help you every day!
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