We have recently (Jan 2025) said our last goodbye to our wonderful 6 year old angel who unfortunately succumbed to ALL and secondary disease. The time between diagnoses and last breath was very short. Our lives changed from a happy family of 3 with fun and exciting plans for 2025 to a worse case scenario in just 3 weeks!
We tried to find support groups who help each other adopting to new ways of living. Some groups turned us down as we need to be grieving for at least 6 months, some others have no meetings scheduled untill next year.
Despite trying various different avenues and contacts, we have still not found a group of similar parents who meet on regular basis online or otherwise. Any recommendations will be of great help to my wife and I.
Thank you for taking time in reading my post
Some hospitals, hospices, GP services, Churches, local charities might have services.
Local Macmillan Cancer Care, Maggies Services or equivalent, funeral directors might be able to help.
I expect that you have already tried most of these.
I will copy your post to the Blood Cancer UK nurses @BloodCancerUK_Nurses just in case they have any ideas.
I have learnt that everyone grieves differently, there is no right or wrong way.
Be ever so kind to yourselves and really look after yourselves.
Hello @grieving_dad,
We are so so sorry to hear about the loss of your daughter.
We can only imagine what a devastating time this must be for you and your family.
Please know that you are not alone and you can speak with one of our support services nurses on our confidential line on 0808 2080 888 should you wish to talk things through with one of us.
Could we ask if you have spoken to the haematology team involved in your daughters care? As they may be able to provide you both with some support and guidance for counselling or may have psychological support available within the hospital.
I can see that Erica has also mentioned some supportive suggestions. Sue Ryder & Maggie’s centres usually have supportive information. Maggie’s centres can provide group support or individual support and are dotted around the country. You can find more information about them and search for your local centre by clicking this link Our centres | Maggie’s.
In case it is useful too, our colleagues at YoungLivesVsCancer also have a link on grief and bereavement which includes a number of different resources Grief and bereavement - Young Lives vs Cancer
If you would like us to search on a more local level for you, please let us know your location and we can have a look for you. You can call us on the number above or email us at support@bloodcancer.org.uk
Once again, we are so sorry to hear what you are going through. Please be kind to yourselves and know that we are only an email or phone call away if we can help further.