Grief…A Powerful Force

Photo by Albin Biju from Pexels

“Grief is a curious thing, when it happens unexpectedly. It is a band-aid being ripped away, taking the top layer off a family. And the underbelly of a household is never pretty, ours no exception.” Jodi Picoult…

Grief is a powerful thing, it often sneaks up on you at the most inopportune tines, and when you face more than one loss in a short period of time, I think that multiplies. In December we lost my Aunt and one of her sons in a thirty six hour period, my Aunts death we had expected she lost a thirty plus year battle with cancer, my cousins not so much, his death came mere months after a diagnosis with HLH!

So what on the earth is HLH, well first of all it’s a beast, one that took my fifty six year old cousin from us, But here is the definition according to Hopkinsmedicine.org:

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a rare disease that usually occurs in infants and young children. It may also occur in adults. Children usually inherit the disease. In adults, many different conditions, including infections and cancer, can cause HLH.

Mt cousin was diagnosed late in the Summer and a week before Christmas he was gone, a hard blow, but even more so for his children.

We of course grieved my Aunts death too, but as I said we had more time to prepare for her…