Actor, Rob Delaney and his wife, Sarah, lost their 2-year-old son, Henry, in January 2018. Here he writes honestly and poignantly about Henry’s illness and treatment.
Henry’s tracheotomy tube prevents him from speaking, so I haven’t heard him make a peep for over a year. My wife recently walked in on me crying and listening to recordings of him babbling, from before his diagnosis and surgery. I’d recorded his brothers doing Alan Partridge impressions and Henry was in the background, probably playing with the dishwasher, and just talking to himself, in fluent baby. Fucking music, oh my God I want to hear him again. Now he has a foam-cuffed tracheotomy tube in his beautiful throat, rendering him mute.
The post was originally intended to be part of a book for the parents of sick children:
The reason I’m putting this out there now is that the intended audience for this book was to be my fellow parents of very sick children. They were always so tired and sad, like ghosts, walking the halls of the hospitals, and I wanted them to know someone understood and cared. I’d still like them to know that, so here these few pages are, for them. Or for you.
But I can’t write that book anymore because our family’s story has a different ending than I’d hoped for. Maybe I’ll write a different book in the future, but now my responsibility is to my family and myself as we grieve our beautiful Henry.
To read Rob’s article in full please click here.
Many of the bereaved parents at SLOW have nursed their children through painful illnesses and treatment. After their children die some are lost without the routine of hospital admissions and caring responsibilities of looking after their seriously ill child.
SLOW welcomes all bereaved parents irrespective of whether their child was an adult or a baby, or the varying circumstances in which they died. And though circumstances surrounding the deaths of our children differ widely, parents find a way to share their pain and grief.
Should you need bereavement support following the death of your child please contact us. Click here for further details of how to get in touch.
