None of us can imagine the pain of losing a child until we’ve lived it. But even though this nightmare is a reality for thousands of parents, there is very little research on the grief experience of fathers. We still fall back on old stereotypes as mothers being more bonded to their children and fathers […]
“I didn’t talk to my daughter for more than five years. I didn’t know what hit me. I kept thinking about her and wondering where she was. My granddaughter was born, and I never knew. We are trying to ‘fix’ things now, but it’s different than before. I still miss what we used to have.” […]
When Lisa Boehm’s vibrant, hard-working daughter Katie died in a car accident at 17-years-old, Lisa knew right away that she didn’t want Katie’s life to be in vain. “From the very first moment that we lost her, I always wondered, what is (Katie) thinking when she watches me?” Lisa said on our newest episode of […]
Have you ever woken up with your heart pounding and thoughts racing in the middle of your grief and wondered, am I the only one who feels this way? Have you gone through the motions of a day, numb and in a daze, and thought, is this normal? Have you replayed your loss over and […]
“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” – Muhammad Ali More than 300 student-athletes sat with rapt attention in a Baltimore convention center this weekend at the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum, watching the Hearts of Hope team begin their presentation with this Muhammad Ali quote. After learning about […]
JD Hawkins was a beloved high school teacher and coach in New Mexico when one of his student athletes fulfilled the dream that every coach hopes for them—he was recruited to play football at the collegiate level. JD and the school community cheered this young man on as he went through the recruitment process. But […]
How can thinking about your legacy bring more meaning to your life now? Most of us probably don’t think we need to consider our legacies until we’re older, wiser, and have accomplished many of the things we dream of in life. We think of a legacy as a gift or inheritance, or something extraordinary that […]
We are honored to share the story of our visit to True Bethel Baptist Church in Buffalo, NY. As we distributed more than 300 hand-painted hearts in support of the community’s grief after the terrible shooting at Tops Market, we heard many stories of the choices people made to honor their loved ones, lean on […]
When things seem so out of control, what do we do? This is the question that everyone who experiences loss must face, and as Judy Pedersen found while leading a grief support group, the first step can come from the most unexpected places. One young mom came in who had recently lost her husband. They […]
When something painful happens that is outside our control, like the death of a loved one, a terrible accident, or a global pandemic, we often start to rethink our understanding of the world and how we function in it. If we live in such an unpredictable and often unfair place, how can we control what […]
