Anniversaries: A Date To Be Celebrated Or A Date That’s Just Too Painful To Bear?

Trinity PR is proud to be working alongside the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) this month [May 2016] by helping to launch a powerful new booklet for families who are learning to navigate their emotions through the seemingly endless anniversaries and “important dates” they find themselves faced with following the tragic death (whether recently, or many years ago) of a young person from an undiagnosed heart condition.

The booklet, ‘Anniversaries: following a young sudden cardiac death’ which has been compiled by CRY’s Founder and former bereavement counsellor, Alison Cox MBE, features 15 short chapters from men and women talking through their personal experience of having to find ways of coping with the often brutal reminders of what is now missing from their lives – combined with the enduring comfort they find when family members and friends show they have not forgotten the significance of an important “date”.

The booklet – which has poignantly been launched to coincide with the culmination of CRY’s own 20th anniversary campaign – has already been sent personally to over 2,000 individuals and families who have been supported by CRY over the past two decades. The resource will also be available via online download or free, directly from CRY. http://issuu.com/cardiacriskintheyoung/docs/anniversaries_booklet_-__complete_f/1

The bereavement support team at CRY developed this latest booklet in the charity’s ‘grief series’ knowing that bereaved families often find most solace, support and guidance from others who have been through a similar experience.

Alison Cox says; “If someone close to you suddenly dies anniversaries are something, that I have learnt, most of our bereaved families and friends cannot, indeed do not ever want to, escape from.

“Anniversaries provide a framework within which their recollections of time spent together can be harboured. They create a predictability which confirms that the person who dies will not be forgotten.  It holds the promise that their great loss will always be remembered.

Alison adds; “Some of these days of remembrance remain private, known only to themselves. Others are days earmarked for sharing, and can lead to increasing confidence around friends and family that loved the person now missing from their lives, and who have their own needs to share their own experiences.

“Although they can be painful, anniversaries crystalise memories. They become a focal point, offering precious protected time to reflect on cherished moments plucked from their brief lives spent together. Moments that are needed to serve a lifetime.”

Every week in the UK, 12 young (that is, aged 35 and under) people die suddenly from a previously undiagnosed heart condition. 80% of these young people have no signs or symptoms and so the only way to detect a potentially sinister cardiac abnormality is by having a CRY screening test.

CRY’s Bereavement Support Programme offers telephone support through volunteers who have suffered the sudden cardiac death of a child, sibling or partner and who received two years of counselling training. CRY also holds regional and national bereavement support events across the UK for families who have been affected by young sudden cardiac death.

www.c-r-y.org.uk