The brightest star burns the quickest
by Viv Edge
Happy & full of life, on holiday 4 months before she died
To say we miss her every day is an understatement. Christmas will never be the same again & this year passed in a blur, away from home in sunny Tenerife with our 2 sons (21 & 27) and away from happy family memories and traditions. Our only consolation is that Katie saved 7 lives through organ donation, bitter sweet I know but it's what we cling onto when we feel such despair. Now we have to try to live our lives which for me means working in the hospital where she & I both worked (she as a Phlebotomist & me as a Senior Ward Sister on a stroke rehabilitation ward) & where she was treated before being transferred to a specialist hospital. The irony of my job and Katie's cause of death are with me constantly, my whole nursing career has been working with stroke patients and to think that's what my girl died of is like a slap in the face, it's so hard to carry on working there and every day I think about leaving but I have to carry on to keep the money coming in! Many people just don't seem to grasp the enormity of losing a child, I know all loss is huge and individual but losing a child is so disorientating to your life's plan, they're not meant to go before us are they??? So my focus and mission now is to try to raise the profile of the support bereaved parents need, to meet, to let people know we're "not over it" yet or "feeling better". There is no support group available for people like us so I've started my own with the help of a few other parents in the same situation, just 6 of us so far but just talking to people who truly understand helps us all tremendously. I compare my personal grief to being diagnosed with a terminal illness, no treatment is available for it apart from mild symptom control & I will continue to suffer for it until I die. So great is the loss of a child. Viv
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