Turning Personal Tragedies Into Ways to Help Others

Good morning.  Many of us have experienced tragedies in our lives whether through death or accident or what it may be.  What do we do when that tragedy comes?  I know when we lost our 1st baby [she was stillborn] a support group helped me. A year or so after we lost her, my cousin's baby was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and passed away.  I was able to reach out to her and offer her the support she needed. I was able to be there for her when the emotions were just too overwhelming and she felt like she couldn't breathe...then tragedy struck our lives again.  Our 3rd child, Austin, was also born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome.  He lived 16 days...most babies diagnosed with this only live about 3-5 days.  The left side of their hearts doesn't develop. The only way they can survive is through a heart transplant.  This is a rare illness and not a lot is known about it.  He was born in 1995 and at that time the oldest known survivor was 10.  Austin was a 3lb baby...odds of finding a heart for one so small are slim to none.  They gave us 24 hrs to decide if we should let nature take its course or if we felt it best to go through the series of surgeries that lead to a transplant and constant pain.  The hardest decision I've ever had to make in my life...but we had to do what was best for Austin and not be selfish.  We chose to place him in God's hands and love him and protect him the best we could while we had him.

From these tragedies I have reached out to so many who have gone through similar circumstances.  Grief is a very hard thing and I think it is different when you are grieving a child because our hearts, minds, and souls know that we should not be surviving our children.

I want to share with you now, another mom who was able to turn her grief into something positive and help others.  Please take the time to visit her blog @ http://www.carterhagenow.blogspot.com/.  Also please check out her website: http://www.metalstampedmemories.com/.  We may never have the answers to the "why", but our circumstances don't have to hold us down.  God allows us to use these tragedies in our lives to help others.

If you have been able to help others through an experience in your life, please leave a comment below. I would like to honor you as well.
Blessings,
Regina
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