WE ARE CLIMBING MOUNT SNOWDON!!!!

During the week of 16th September (weather shall dictate the ascent day!), as a new, blended family, we shall be attempting to climb Mount Snowdon! This is especially pivotal to us as we had planned to climb the Mountain with Lawrance only weeks after he died. 3 years later, it seems poignant to climb as we think it represents our very own journey with grief. It is a challenge in itself to reach the peak of the mountain, however, the peak is not the end of our journey, there is no finality or closure, the peak will always remain. There is also a descent which can be equally as tough with many milestones to pass along the way. On reaching the bottom, there is no longer such a daunting journey lay before you, however, you shall always carry that weight of the journey but it is lighter on your shoulders as you return to sea level which as we all know, continues as very normal with peaks and troughs.

We are raising money for Nelson's Journey as 3 years ago, my husband and father of our four children, sadly took his own life after an extreme episode of anxiety while he was away at work. As you can imagine, suddenly having to cope with the suddenness of losing their Daddy and for me, a husband, we had the trauma of how he died to try and explain to our young children, then aged just 12, 7 and 5 year old twins.

I had heard of Nelson's Journey but had no idea as to what the extent of their help and support could be. I contacted them as at the forefront of everything was the children's wellbeing. The support we received literally for me meant the difference between coping and not! Suicide comes with such a different set of circumstance to have to explain to young children and Nelson's Journey helped give me the right words to use. For us, it became a "normal" type of death. Tragically, people die in all sorts of ways...car crashes, illness, accidents etc and we soon came to feel that suicide became "normal." Lawrance had suffered depression in the past and had even sought out help but like any other "accident" sadly found himself unable to seek help during an extreme onset of anxiety. Suicide is a taboo subject but through Nelson's Journey, we were able to engage with other families and children, through therapy weekends and events, which made us feel comfortable to talk about what had happened to us. This would not have been made possible without the support from Nelson's Journey. Our daughter found it extremely isolating as her friends (understandably) found it too difficult a subject to talk about and our boys also too came up against typical taunts and ideas behind suicide. We learned that it is "normal" and we had nothing to be ashamed of, as did Lawrance. 

For sure, we would have dealt with grief in our own way but for us, we needed a little help to come to terms with suicide. Alongside my own therapy, our own personal attitude and ethos toward living life to its fullest, we feel that in addition, beyond doubt, Nelson's 

Journey served as the catalyst to catapulting us to coming to terms about what we have been through and now being able to enjoy and embrace life as we know it today!