A blog about the grief after losing a child to Niemann Pick, Type C, a rare disease, and how I'm moving forward with my life.

Friday, April 20, 2018

Child loss awareness in an unexpected place

I'm sure almost everyone has heard that Barbara Bush died recently.  Have you read her obituary or any stories on her life?  I can tell you that I learned something the other day while reading her obituary.

She lost a daughter at age 3 to leukemia.

Yup.  One of the most respected First Lady's experienced child loss.  One article I read said that she refused to let anyone cry at her daughter's bedside while she was in the hospital.  Another article said they traveled the country looking for treatment.  Guess what?  Many parents of those affected by rare disease do the same.

What really caught my eye this morning was an image of Ms. Bush greeting her daughter Robin in heaven, with both of them running to each other.  Have you seen it? You can see it in this article. There are many other articles with the same image.  I chose this one because of the 2 videos in it - one of Mrs. Bush talking about her daughter and the other a letter.

Although many years have passed, talking about child loss and grief is still a difficult subject.  How many more years will it take to be an acceptable topic of conversation?