Hey, I’m so sorry for your loss, I’m not a firefighter but I want to say to you you have tremendous courage to do what you do and make a difference to other peoples lives, I cannot imagine how you deal day in day out espechially when not all times are happy endings. But it takes real courage to go through personal loss and still show up everyday! I lost my mum suddenly to a heart attack (blocked arteries) though my story is different it was sudden we didn’t know she had this condition, I feel your pain and frustration. I don’t have any answers or anyway to make it easier just wanted to say I see you I hear you and you are doing the best you can! Your dad would be proud of you for carrying on I know it’s not easy. Be gentle with yourself it’s a lot I know.

I am so sorry, I have not lost a child other than unborn, but have lost everyone else, I can't imagine. My heart goes out to you. I'm also sorry for the distance with your daughter. Perhaps you grieve differently than her and she is dealing with his addiction the only way she knows. Child-adult death Child loss indefinite

On 12/26/23, I went to my son's apartment to bring him home. He was dead on his sofa. He was an alcoholic and reached out to me after numerous things went downhill in his life. He got fired from his county job of 10 years, his girlfriend moved out, and he was being evicted from his apartment. He had no car or phone. He still had internet and sent me a message that he was trying to stop drinking and asked if he could come home. I wish I had gone and got him the day he sent me the message. I had to deal with my toxic ex-husband through this who did not understand why I wanted to have a funeral for my son. Since then, my daughter (my only child now) did not want to help me gather photos for his funeral or go through his stuff. She has been very distant, which is heartbreaking to me. I go through the motions of life everyday of working and come home to cry myself to sleep. I have previously lost my parents, my best friend, my son in law, and my sister, but losing a child is by far the most heartbreaking thing that I will ever go through. I am overwhelmed by everyone and everything.

I have the same questions. When I went through a divorce 20 years ago, online forums helped. I'm looking for that now after losing suddenly the love of my long life. I need instruction, not just on how to get through one day at a time, but also just on how to navigate this site.

My boyfriend of 9 years broke up with me in May and is currently looking to move out. We have a 5 year old daughter together. I am heartbroken that our family unit is broken. I worry about my child and how she will adjust. I am just coming to terms that this is actually happening and we are no more. 5 years ago I learned he was having an affair with a co worker that lasted over a year. I was not able to forgive him. I know this is for the best but I'm still hurt and worried about my child. Does it get easier ?

I am so very sorry for your loss. I lost my mum a few months back after a battle with cancer, I just feel so lost all of the time.

I just lost my mom in September. I am so sorry for all of your losses. I keep getting told that the pain doesn't go away, but you learn to live with it, but that isn't very helpful right now, just trying to get through a day.

This can be bad. I know what it is like. A friend was trying to tell me that they wanted to kill themself a while ago. All I can say is, if it does happen, let it be cried out and once it is over with, move on.

1/25/15, 8/30/16, 7/23/18, 8/18/20, 12/24/20, 10/05/22, As of Nov. 14, 2022... 11/3/22 Those are the dates of all my passings. I cried every time it happened. This past one was the worst of them all though. It was my mother that passed away that day. Never could forget that one. I still am hurting cause of that one. Always will.....

@Kat11 I am very sorry about the sudden loss of your partner. I can't image how you feel with losing some one so close as a partner. I lost my Father suddenly and it's been about 10 months. I posted here on this part of the forum since his passing, and these thing helped ME.. everyone grieves differently but I hope that some of things that I have here with help you. Please take care of yourself and other here and else ware do care about you:

John, I am so deeply sorry for your losses. I lost my partner and best friend of 30 years to metastatic breast cancer. It was a very aggressive form of cancer and it was only 2 months from diagnosis to her passing on 9-7-22. I am devastated. Heart broken in a million pieces. She was my everything. I am also currently unemployed. Don't have a lot of friends. I can totally relate to your loneliness. So glad you have your dogs!! They are such a blessing. They will make you smile...even when you don't think you can. They give you purpose and keep your heart alive. That's what my cat Zoey does for me. I lost my mom 2 years ago to covid. She was my other best friend. Multiple losses are so hard. The 2 people who knew me best and I loved most in the world are gone now. It is agonizing. I feel like I don't know how I fit in the world now. If you ever want to reach out...maybe we can help each other.

Ann, I am so sorry for your loss. I know how overwhelming the pain is. I lost my partner of 30 years to metastatic breast cancer about a month ago. It was a very aggressive form of cancer. We only had 2 months from diagnosis to her passing. I feel like we didn't really have a chance to say goodbye either. She was in such denial about the seriousness of her disease. She just kept saying she was going to fight and didn't want to hear anything else. I don't know how to get through this either. She was the one who always made everything better. I'm trying to take everything in very small steps. Minute by minute sometimes. If you think chatting with me would help do reach out. Maybe we can help each other.

Janet, I am so sorry for your loss. What a horrible way to lose someone. I totally relate to you reeling from this loss. I lost my partner of 30 years to a very aggressive form of metastatic breast cancer. She was only 55 years old. We were best friends. Did everything together. Talked and planned to grow old together. I've never had any other vision in my head. And now she's gone. It was only 2 months from when we got the diagnosis to her passing on 9-7-22. I understand your shock and unspeakable pain. Please respond if you want to chat. Maybe we can help each other.

My partner of 30 years died from metastatic breast cancer on 9-7-22. By the time we got the diagnosis the cancer had spread to her liver, lymph, abdomen and bone. It was only 2 months from diagnosis to her passing. It was a very aggressive type of breast cancer. She was my everything. We did everything together for a lifetime. I am beyond devastated. Heart shattered in a million pieces. Really need to connect with some people who understand. I just don't know how to do this. I am in such agony. Any support would be so deeply appreciated.

In January I lost my 29 year old daughter. She had been battling liver chirossis for the past five years. She lived with me and was my best friend. People keep telling me it will get easier but I feel like it is getting harder. My family is supportive but I still feel like I am alone.

My friend committed suicide few months ago. I’m still grieving but still in denial sometimes. More than that All what I’m thinking about these days that I might loose anyone any time on a sudden. I don’t want to deal with this pain it’s not easy. And ppl keep saying it’s a matter of time

Two nights ago I lost my best friend. He was not sick - in fact we had just returned from a wonderful week away to a resort in Monterey, CA and had a great time. David had severe sleep apnea and used a CPAP machine. He had to use it every night and every time he lay down. He had had it for 25+ years and stuck to his routine religiously. He fell out of bed and severely injured both his arms and couldn't get back in bed. His sister Laura was helping him, bringing him water, ice packs and tried to make him comfortable on the floor. She wanted to call 911. Both David and I vetoed that because he didn't want to go to the hospital and I felt that it was unlikely that they would be unwilling to come by and assist David back in bed. After spending 2 days and nights on the floor - in a lot of pain and not sleeping, David told me that he was getting sleepy and that I should come by and we would go to Urgent Care the next day. He seemed ok so I hung up the phone, then called his sister so that she knew the plan - that I would be coming by the next day. During that conversation I talked about the severity of David's sleep apnea and his need for the CPAP machine. I also asked her to check on him. She apparently went into his room and he was snoring loudly. She offered him his CPAP mask but he batted it away. She then placed it on his face and balanced a pillow on top. She then went out for a walk. When she returned, about 10-15 minutes later he was unresponsive and cold. She called 911 but David was already dead. Laura did a lot of complaining about how much cleaning she needed to do and how tired she was because of David's messiness. She also had to move furniture so that it would be easier to get David back in bed. Was she being spiteful by not awakening him to properly put his CPAP mask on, given the instructions I had given her? She contends this was a "mistake" and that "people make mistakes". I see this as pure negligence that resulted in the unnecessary death of the most important person in my world. Laura is resistant to other people telling her what to do and is very sensitive to feeling "bossed" about, even when those people are recommending the right things to do. She often feels that people are talking down to her and that she has to "assert her rights", especially in restaurants, stores, public transit, local government, utility serve centers and other places where there is a customer service situation. I know that she was becoming increasingly resentful that she was cleaning and having to take care of her brother, but KILLING him? I am in shock. My world has crumbled. I have spent the better part of my life with this man. He went from doing fine (with the exception of pain in his arms) and talking on the phone to dead in the course of less than 1/2 hour. And just a few hours after being taken away by mortuary workers. I am reeling from this. I don't know how I am to cope. I thought we had years ahead of us.

Hello all. My name is David. Ima firefighter and an EMT in Alaska. I lost my father a couple of months ago to unexpected heart failure. I was hoping to share my story, especially because im finding hardship dealing with not only his passing, but how it is brought up and relived by my current job. I went to an academy in February after originally going to it in January and catching covid. Been a several year paid employee, but was finally able to earn the right to get sent to get my certs. On the day back from academy, while in the seattle airport my mom texts me and says my dadd isn’t acting quite right. She describes his symptoms, and ill be damned if she isn’t describing a heart attack. So I call him, and speak to him like an EMT, not his son, and tell him to stop what hes doing snd to go get healthcare. He doesn’t want, and I should have insisted on going to a hospital. But he conceds that he will go to his doctor right away. So while im flying home from Seattle, he goes to his doctors. The tell him hes having a poor reaction to he blood pressure medication, and me, being just an EMT, decides that they must be correct. They are doctors, they know more than me. But they weren’t correct. Hes home for 4 days and out of it, having a hard time breathing, being weak and dizzy, and we think that must be his medication. But that evening, he has altered mental status. I take him to the ER, and whoops…The doctors were wrong. He had a blockage in his atrial artery. Hes been at home without care with a widowmaker heart attack for 4 days. It’s a bloody miracle that hes still alive He gets care and treatment, and we hope that we got lucky. But over the next few weeks he isn’t doing better. He goes in for care, and look at that, there was too much damage to his heart from 4 days of blood flow being blocked, and he has only a thin membrance of tissue holding his heart together from having a major rupture, and killing him. The next day im on a medevac flight with him to Seattle. There he is seen yb the best cardiac team in the world. They have a plan to repair his heart. We spend several days,a nd he goes in for surgery. Right before that time is the last time id talk to him. I will never forget that. I have to return home for work, no sense in me being in seattle for the possible 6 weeks itll take to get a new heart if the surgery doesn’t go well. While hes under they discover that part of his heart is shot. There is no way to repair it. They put him on an LVAD. Now hes unconscious, and we are waiting for him to get a new heart. HE should wake up. My mom is with him every day. Then 9 days later I get a phone call… Hes had a stroke. They cant give him blood thinners because of the machine, hell bleed to death. And he ahs a stroke. I fly down as fast as I can. It turns out that just maybe he will make it, it will leave him mostly blind, but he has a chance. The next day… uring rounds we find out hes had another stroke. His frontal lobe is destroyed. Hes not going to recover, and hes not truly eliagable for a heart transplant anyways. That day we pull life support, and he passes while im hugging him. I play the song well done by the afters, and my mom feels his last heartbeat. And since that day, my father, a rock in my life, and literally the best father I could have designed if God had given me a piece of paper and said, design your ultimate father, hes gone. The next week I followed his direction, no matter what happens, I stick to my plan of seeing my fiancée in another country. With his blessings, and my families, as well as my works, I go spend 12 days with my fiancée. And its wonderful But now im home. Im returning to normal. And since Ive gotten back, over the last 2 months we have been slammed with cardiac codes, and ive worked a lot of deaths. The most recent was a 5 year old child. We worked so hard to try to bring her back, almost 2 hours. But she doesn’t make it. The weird thing is that I know this is all effecting me, and I work in a culture of people who encourage sharing and talking. Im using my employee assistance program to get help, and I hav ethe full support of my brothers and sisters at my station. But damn it, im so angry. I don’t even know why other than this ethereal sense of, this isn’t fair. Ive been on edge, and even the slightest things makes me want to just explode. Thankfully it isn’t people, but I have kicked shoes across the living room. I broke a pair of headphones that got caught ona door handle by rippinig them apart, instead of just unhooking them. And I know that I have so much sadness inside of me. But the tears don’t come easily. I WANT to cry. I want to sob. I want to scream, but I honestly cant muster it. And the other wildest thing is that im okay. I know that sounds counter to what im typing, but I told my dad that no matter what happens ill be okay. Because he was a phenomoinal father, and he raised me right. His favorite poem was called Good timber, and its about how harsh weather and tough conditions breeds old tought trees. Easy conditions builds weak trees, and in turn he built me intoa tough tree. But not an emotionally stunted one. Im not putting on some macho mask. Im open with how im feeling, and I talk about it with my pastor and my Lt (they happen to be the same person lol) Im just sharing here because I feel like I still need to talk about it. I knowthat grief is different for everyone. We all behave differently, and there is no righr way to grieve. I guess im wondering if there are any other firefighter EMTs out there that know how to process death when it comes so close to my fathers passing, and so often takes the same shape? Thank you.

Summersun, Thank you. I honestly didn't know how things would've turned out, so I'm glad they went this way. The necklace is put with the wedding rings and my memories together along with my mothers necklace. She would want me to have a life and not sit around and be unproductive or distance myself from life. I hope you're doing ok on this sunday and everybody else as well. have a good day.

John, you can be so proud of yourself the way you handle this! You are so strong. This picture of the two of you is incredibly beautiful. Yes, do everything the way you believe she'd want you to do it. There is no need to do anything with her clothes just yet. Take your time. It's very fresh, just like you told your potential employer. I think the necklace is a great idea. This way you can have her close to you if you wish to. I hope everyone is having a good Sunday. Sending strength to all, especially those here who are having a rough day. I might not know you all, and I think of you.

Good Day, I have finally received her ashes and within a week I will be spreading them where her mother and brother were spread by her just 3 years ago. It will be the next chapter of healing I believe. I was going to keep a small urn, but I just watched the video we took of her spreading her brother and mother and her words were " it will finally come to and end". So I have decided to keep an urn necklace with just a tad of her ashes. The same I did with my mothers ashes. And i will live my life like she wanted me too. I don't know if I will look for new love or take my wedding ring off. I suppose time will tell. I still haven't done anything with her clothes yet. I suppose in time I will. Still can't believe today makes it 2 weeks since her passing. I actually thought I would be a absolute mess a non functioning blob of grief and self destruction. I am actually doing better than I thought. There are times where I find something and it triggers the sorrow and I know that's natural. As I always told her love you always and forever. I hope everyone is doing ok.

Hi John Thank you for your reply, i will do and hugs back

Hello Anna, Today is another winner. (Joking) I was supposed to have an final interview to start helping people with their company benefits. And i called the manager back and explained again with my wifes death being only 11 days past. I don't think my mental state should be put under a lot of stress. Normal times I would've killed a job like that, but I can't seem to focus enough to even do that. So maybe tomorrow will be at least alittle easier. It doesn't help me sitting here going over the tons of pictures and the things we did. i can't help it i wanna go back in time and try and correct or at least catch it before the cancer was too far gone. I guess I better invent a time machine . Also I need to go the store but again put that off maybe I'll go when it's darker out seems like there's less people then. Btw on one of the messages you said whatever part of the world I'm in. I reside in Arizona. Hope you're day was ok or tolerable at least. John

Shannon, So sorry for your loss. This is a good place to tell your story everybody here understands what you're going through. Please come and share when it get's to be too much. hugs John

Hi, My name is Shannon i am 28 Irish and currently living in the UK. My mum passed away on 08/05/22 age 47 due to a cardiac arrest. My mam was an alcoholic, she would go for months not drinking & then when she would drink she would binge for weeks. my mam had 5 children including me and my 4 brothers. It still doesn't feel real, i just feel so numb, angry sad etc, i joined this forum yesterday looking to speak to others as grief is new to me still dont seem to understand it. if you take the time to read this. below is a picture of me and my mam in happier times. Thank you Shannon.