If you know a bereaved family remember that even their “good” days are harder than you could ever imagine. 

Compassion and love, not advice, is what is needed.

There will never come a day, hour, minute or second that they stop loving or thinking about their child. Just as parents of living children unconditionally love their children always and forever, so do bereaved parents. They want to say and hear their name just the same as non-bereaved parents do. They want to speak about their deceased child as normally and naturally as you speak of your living ones.

They love their child just as much as you love yours, the only difference is that theirs lives in heaven and talking about them is unfortunately still quite taboo. 

We want to change that. We want to make it that no family ever feels wrong or judged for wanting to talk about their child. 

Our society isn’t great at hearing about children dying, but that doesn’t stop a bereaved parent from saying their child’s name and wanting to share their love and life everywhere they go. Just because it might make you uncomfortable, doesn’t make them matter any less. My Grandson’s life was very short, but his love will live on forever,and our love for him will go on forever as well.

In the four years as a bereaved family, we are continually struck by the power of the bond between bereaved parents. Strangers become friends in seconds, something connects us, even if we’ve never met before. No matter what our circumstances, who we are, or how different we are, there is no greater bond than the connection between parents who understand the agony of losing a child. It’s a pain we suffer for a lifetime, and unfortunately only those who have walked the path of child loss understand the depth of both the pain and the love we carry with us.

There is no "getting over it". There is no end to the grief. We will grieve with all our hearts. There will never come a time where we won’t think about who Charlie would be, what he would look like, and how he would fit into the family. We wish people could understand that grief lasts forever because love lasts forever. The loss of a child is not just one event, it is a continuous loss over the course of a lifetime. 

This club called 'child loss' is a club we never wanted to join, yet we have met some of the best people we have ever known through it . We all wish that we could have met another way, one where we were not always faced with the loss of our children. We feel proud to know these amazing mums,dads,grandparents who continuously redefine the word brave.

If you know a family that could benefit from becoming a part of our 'Angel family' please get them to visit our website www.Charlies-Angel-Centre.org.uk to see all the way we can support them helping them rebuild their lives.