Everyone enjoy this picture of my family Kathleen Daughters Elissa and Sarah, their wonderful husbands Luvin and Jeff and grandchildren Catherine, Victor, and Warren and in the back of the boat me.  We are on the Disney "it's a Small World" ride this summer.  We are clearly a blessed family.

Missing from this picture is our beloved son Warren who died 15 years ago at age 13.  Our family was devastated by loss and we were cast adrift in grief.  Losing a child is every parent's worse nightmare for good reason.  As father I couldn't fix things to make them better for my family.  Our daughters and we often felt like freaks as we tried to press forward in grief.

Unfortunately, 1 of 7 children have the experience of losing an immediate family member before reaching adulthood.  

Fortunately, we were introduced to Journey of Hope (JOH).  This organization provides grief support services for children and their family who have lost a sibling or parent to death.  We went to meetings where we could share a meal and then meet with peer aged participants to share our experiences and support one another.

JOH helped us to see that we were not freaks and that we can move forward.  You see where we are today as a family.  We will always grieve Warren but can move forward in life.

As we move forward we have become involved with JOH so that children who suffer the unfortunately not so freakish loss of immediate have access to the support our family received.

Since JOH doesn't charge for these services we have allowed our loss of Warren to be used as an example of the family loss that JOH helps heal.  

Please join my family in supporting JOH through donating and hopefully joining us at Warrens Walk - Stepping out for Grieving Children event on Saturday September 26.  Hope to see you at the walk.