Death of a Son

Product Information

Unintended injuries are the leading cause of death in children age 1 to 14 and account for more than half of all deaths among young people 15 to 19 years of age.

Taken together, the grief and mourning processes are understood to be a normal and universal part of the natural healing process that enables individuals, families, and communities to live with the reality of loss while going on with living [ 17, 18]. Infants and young children continue to feel secure and loved through loving physical contact, singing, cuddling and rocking. We feel that way because of the connection we had, a deep connection at a level we can’t even fully express. The Compassionate Friends run local support groups and other meetings in-person and online, as well as a private online forum and Facebook groups and a grief companion scheme. Retrospective qualitative studies suggest that surviving siblings may have feelings of isolation and social withdrawal at home and with peers [ 23, 65, 66].It is also noticeable that both the narrator and Buntu are resilient when it comes to retrieving their son’s body. With the longer terminal illness period made possible by medical advances, it is important for physicians to recognize and inform families when there is no realistic possibility of significant extension of life so that they can make informed decisions about palliative care or other concurrent model of care rather than curative treatments. They found that 72% of couples stayed together after their child passed away, 16% of respondents were widowed, and only 12% of couples got divorced. It may be directed at the spouse, at other family members, at the professional staff, at God, at fate, or even at the dead child.

This ongoing connection is most vividly and consistently reported, indeed insisted on, by many bereaved parents in relation to the death of a child. In contrast to the past when families might have had several children die, death in childhood is now rare.

However, since everyone grieves differently, facing the loss of a child can certainly put strain on a marriage and on each parent's relationship with surviving children. It is important to consider not only the degree of overt function and dysfunction following loss, but also the ways in which memories and thoughts about the deceased are discussed, thought about, and serve an active role in the emotional and mental life of the bereaved. The question these findings raise is to what extent this type of resilient pattern may also be found among those mourning the death of a child [ 27]. Read all In September 1982, Pauline and Ray Williams were woken with the news that their 19-year-old son John had been found dead. Individuals and families have many capabilities and abilities that allow them to respond to interpersonal loss and to emerge from the experience changed but not broken.