My Story

"I lost my son Adam in a car accident on July 15, 2001. He was a passenger with a friend who was speeding -- his friend survived. On February 21, 2003, I lost my Dad, Conrad, to colon cancer. Through the pain of losing both of these loved ones, it seemed impossible that I would ever feel normal again. These losses, coupled with the prior loss of my father-in-law, Richard, alerted me to the pain of loss and the grief process.

The pain of losing a loved one is a pain that only someone who has been through it can truly understand.

Over the last several years, I have learned a few things that I never really wanted to know. At the beginning, I spent my days trying to get back to the routines I once had without much success. After attending a parent support group, it was a great relief to know that I was not alone. Since that time, I have learned strategies and techniques for moving forward in my journey through grief. I have attended several other support groups, facilitated child bereavement groups, published poetry related to my loss, and discovered grief coaching.

My hope is that I have some insight that might help you move forward in your journey through grief."

About This Site

"Weeks after Adam's passing, family and friends had departed, and I was left alone with my grief. The physical, emotional, and psychological effects of bereavement were very confusing to me. I was unsure about how to cope with my symptoms, and so I sought information that would verify the normalcy of what I was feeling and thinking. It soon became evident that there was no single source of information that would validate what I was experiencing.

Along my journey through grief, I have found many tools for self-healing. One of these tools is sharing information about grief with family, friends, and my support groups -- hence, Shooting Star Hope and Healing Center was formed in addition to this website with the adoption of the shooting star flower as its logo."