Turning loss into a force for good

[William Gerard]

My sister and I experienced loss in our teenage years and for years we let it dominate our lives. I honestly don't know how we would have managed on our own, but I guess were fortunate we didn't have to. I soon realised that thousands, even millions of people experience the worst of grief and often don't have support networks. Certainly in the UK whenever I talk about death people get awkward and it's kind of a taboo subject - our mum's best friend now has a terminal illness and she chooses not to talk about it to anyone. 

More recently a friend of ours who lost her mum last year came across an old whatsapp voice note from her mum, that she'd never heard. The way she described hearing her mum's voice was so incredibly beautiful. And sad of course. 

I decided to do something about seeing so many people around me not coping with the passing of loved ones. My sister and I got funding and set up a platform that aims to get people talking about death. It allows users to leave videos or written messages to loved ones, and in the event that they die, the messages are released as a source of comfort to those left behind. Something we never had but can see how much value it could bring to many. In case anyone wants to look into it, it's called Afterglow.

I think we don't often realise how much we were valued by the ones that leave us behind. Would love to hear about any experiences of receiving messages from a loved one that's died.

Thanks for reading!

[reader]

Thank you William. I know your platform will bring a lot of comfort to many families and friends.