Love and Sorrow: Dealing with the death of a child with special needs 

Parents of your children with special needs…you are incredible humans for giving of yourself and building your life around the care of your child. You were given one of the hardest challenges and yet the richest rewards, as you know. Please continue to honor your child who was and is your great teacher, and has allowed you unique opportunities through caregiving to learn and grow in Love, for it is through the most difficult things in life that we learn from the most and come to appreciate. 💜 Bless you.

I lost my only child, Darren, a few days ago. He was a special child who was diagnosed with Mitochondrial Genetic Disorder and other neurological conditions from birth. We were blessed to be able to take care of him these past 13 years. He is our only child and it's been hard trying to come to terms with the emptiness he has left behind. Even though his condition was terminal, we were not ready to give him back to God. This video has really helped my wife and I to feel a little less alone. Very few understand the strong connection between a child with special needs and his or her parents. Thank you for this video, especially the parents who came forward to share their grief. It made us feel a little less alone. Thank you.

Thank you so much for this video I just lost my son who has a genetic disease and I just miss him soo much. I dedicated my life to take care of him and everything I did is for him and now I’m at a loss. This video helped thanks.

Thank you for this video.... As a parent of a child with special needs, it is so special to see this video. The impact of losing a child who is all your life, every moment, every second of your day, whose life depends on you totally and then they are gone ...... Is beyond overwhelming, shattering and where I had a purpose in life, it is now completely empty.... Where, how to go on from this point??? It is hard to comprehend, we would always chose him again and again and again! Life was never easy, there were always battles to fight for him, always keeping us on our toes, doing everything in our power to keep him healthy, happy and to have a life as normal as possible. He filled our lives with an abundance of unconditional love, he was our teacher, he was a warrior and we were blessed to live in the company of an Angel. He was 23, had autism, epilepsy and a chromosome condition but our loss was so, so unexpected .....

Thank you so much for this video. My special needs son passed away December 8th 2019. I just miss him so much. My son was my world.

Thank you all for sharing these very difficult feelings. My son is 36. He has so many things wrong. Life is very hard. I’ve almost lost him so many times… staring death in the face while holding your child’s hand is never easy. I feel as though I have had a gun to my head for 36 years now. My son is wonderful and I’m blessed to be his mum but I know one day soon now, time will be up. I’m trying hard to prepare myself. I wonder what I will do without him. What my new purpose will be. It’s hard to imagine. Thank you 🙏🏻

Thank You for sharing this video, am sorry for every parent who has lost their child-it does not matter, if it was before they are born or after-a loss is a loss, it cannot be compared- the time seems too short, the moments pass too fast...May Good give peace and heal our hearts! ❤❤❤

Thank you for uploading this video...there is so little out there about grieving the loss of a child with special needs. I lost my son at age 25 just over a year ago. The only things the video didn't address were the loss of an adult child with a high degree of special needs which is very different than losing an adult child without special needs. In some ways, I feel the experience is like losing a young child, despite their chronological age. As well, not all of us were prepared for our child's death - although my son was nonverbal with severe autism, intellectual disability, bipolar disorder and epilepsy, he did not have a shortened life expectency.. (He died of SUDEP- sudden unexpected death in epilepsy in his sleep).

Lost our 14 year old special needs son on Dec 10th. Thanks for this.

My sweet baby girl got her promotion two months ago. The pain and emptiness I feel is just short of unbearable for the simple fact that I'm still here. I suppose that means there's still work for me to do. I just have no idea what that is because my whole existence was her. Thank you for showing me that I'm not alone in this and that I'm not imagining the indescribable depth of this pain. God bless you all.

So sorry for your painful loss. My prayers with you, with all parents who lost their children. It is the MOST PAINFUL experience. May God console all of them. I will always love you my son Dri, my 21 years old son, Dri left us 1 month ago, my life will never be the same. The pain, heartbreak & ache of his loss is unbearable. Dri was my son, soulmate, best friend & everything. We lived together till his death. Our dreams, laughter, movies, music, vacations together. I’ll forever miss my son. I need prayers. Rest in power my Dri. Dance with the angels my Angel till we meet again❤️‍🩹💔😭❤️🙏🏾

Very moving, touching video. After all the sad, anguished, shell shocked expressions, when it gets to memories...see the happy expressions in the eyes of these parents at 18:35....for the first time, you see joy in all their eyes.

3 days after my Autistic son died I applied for a job as an instructional aide for autistic children. It helped. But then the pandemic hit and I was home 1 year! What a nightmare! I'm afraid to go back to the schools because of the virus. I am working as a caregiver for seniors and hospice patients. I thank God for my pets they're all I have!

Lost my son today who was severely brain damaged. Very painful.

My daughter was here one day and gone the next. Four years later I am still in that hole of grieving.

My son Michael had Asperger's disorder. A form of high functioning autism. He died 01/20/19 a piece of me the vital part died with him. Everyone who knew him loved him. One of the smartest kindest people you could meet.My husband died of a broken heart one year later! I'm so alone. All I have is a dog and two cats.

My sons birthday today he would have been 21. Thank you for this video

Some Words of Hope to parents after the terrible grief of the loss of a child... "That beloved child addresseth thee from the hidden world: 'O thou kind Mother, thank divine Providence that I have been freed from a small and gloomy cage and, like the birds of the meadows, have soared to the divine world -- a world which is spacious, illumined, and ever gay and jubilant. Therefore, lament not, O Mother, and be not grieved; I am not of the lost, nor have I been obliterated and destroyed." ~ Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i Faith

This life really is hard. We struggle whole our life to die in the end. Why cant all be healty while alive? Why do we have to be in pain and see our children die and suffer 😭😭😭😭

i would love to know the website for brianne

What year was this made, 2004?

can't focus on the video, too overwhelmed, grief and stress and rage and terror and exhaustion: rape my soul...

Was this video made in 1998?

I want be saint of virgin martyr with mother choir author roman-celtic-war

For a couple, the grief can tear their relationship apart. From: "Word Songs of Love and Life" “Yours Is My Sorrow” Albert Moore Yours is my sorrow, thus must we part. Brought to our knees from same, stilled heart. What I can give, I cannot receive. What you so mourn, I cannot relieve. We shared the joy, the hope and fear. Now more suffering it is to be near. So dark is my soul, I cannot reveal In anguished grief the love I feel. In time, as it comes, I desperately pray I will find the words we need to say. Now we must wait for pain’s release. Only then, together, finding solace and peace. Somewhere, beneath grief too heavy to bear, Know that my love for you is still there.