Lydia Emma Harding

After fighting the cancer (Osteosarcoma) for nearly 4 years she passed away on 9th September 2001 just a few weeks before her 17th birthday.

The anger, guilt, exhaustion, emptiness etc., hit us very very hard and after 2 weeks of everyone being nice the ton of bricks hit us hard. The doctor seemed the only one who could give us some help.

Trying to recover was simply impossible it seemed at this time with Sue suffering a breakdown with both of us having suicidal thoughts. Attending the church became difficult as not many people wanted to talk to us, but then our church in 2002 sponsored us to go on a weekend retreat with Care for the Family bereaved parent section. This was the start of a long road to recovery. First of all, the advice given saved our marriage and secondly there were others feeling like us and that was a God send. The following 10 years we attended many seminars with CFF and other bereaved parents.

The road was very long and bumpy but some sort of normality was returning. Having moved 4 times in five years at this point we started attending Malmesbury Abbey but attended now and then, still struggling with church but we were still waiting on God.

Then in 2015 we were praising God in the Abbey when we sang a Hymn with a line stating… The days of mourning are past….

Sue and I looked at each other, both realising the significance and what we had sung. We hugged and cried and let go of mourning. It was a mighty release which we shared with a crowd after the service. We are no longer in mourning; we just miss her. We still have our down days, but the Lord is still helping us to live almost `normal` lives. It took a few more years to be able to sing. It is well with my soul.

We now celebrate her life given to us by God.

• Howard and Sue