We care deeply for our Grief Warriors – those bereaved mamas and daddys who carry their babies in their heart, rather in their arms. We are devoted to providing them help and hope. We champion their healing and honor their grief journey.
Today, on #warriorwednesday, we spotlight a fellow Grief Warrior and their beloved baby to bring awareness to the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Community and light the path for other grief warriors coming behind us with hope. We’re asking each warrior the same five questions as we learn more about their story and their cultivation of beautiful scars.
Today’s #warriorwedneday spotlight is the leader of Denver SHARE, a local support group: Abby and her daughter, Emma.
- What is your name and your baby/babies’ name– Abby McFerron, our daughter’s name is Emma Grace McFerron
- How far along your grief journey are you? 7 years
3. What aspect of the pregnancy and infant loss community have you chosen to get involved with and why did you chose that, specifically?
After Emma died I needed others in my life who understood this pain and I found them through therapy and the MISS foundation. It truly was my lifeline. As time evolved I realized I wanted to help other families facing this profound loss and that’s how Denver Share was founded. I was a teacher before Emma died so facilitating a group felt like I’d found my new purpose. We are a non-profit organization who offers a monthly support group for families who’ve experienced a loss at any point in their pregnancy or the first few months of life. Our goal is to gather families to help one another work through grief’s immense impact by understanding it, discussing the leaps and bounds of it, and working through it to find hope again.
4. How has your grief journey evolved since the early days of raw grief?
I’ve molded into the person Emma helped me see. As her mother, she taught me strength unlike any I had seen in myself prior to her death. She taught me to love fiercely in my life and to appreciate my days more fully. This all took time and a lot of grief work, as I like to call it. The raw grief lasted for at least a year for me and I felt like Id never be myself again. What I see now as my grief journey was also my journey in becoming my truer self. It ceases to amaze me that our daughter had such a powerful impact on our lives.
5. If you could give your raw grief self a piece of advice, what would you say?
Trust yourself. You can do this. You can be a bereaved mother as beautifully as the mother you envisioned being. And its okay to cry and feel all of this deeply, there’s no shame in our tears. Its part of our healing.