My blog has a few topics of focus. Sibling illness is huge, my brother and I's most fundamental years of our lives were spent in and out of hospital and the toll on ones mental health is massive. Minor depression and dysthymia (persistent depressive disorder) occurs in 20% of adolescent and young adult cancer patients, as I watched my brother grow from 11 until 17 with a terminal illness I saw first hand the mental damage it can do to a person. Sibling grief is incredibly lonely. We are often referred to as the forgotten mourners, Siblings are often made to feel as if their grief isn’t as bad as their parents and sometimes have no choice but to step up and be the parent themselves for a while. It becomes so important to get your emotions out and find something that can help, one in five people suffering from a bereavement will suffer from major depression. I tried to find statistics on siblings suffering from bereavement but there’s not much out there, another reason why being open about sibling grief and illness is so important, more information is needed. I also focus on the impact social media has on grieving. I felt like I was living between two worlds the week my brother passed. We received dozens of flowers and hand written cards which seemed traditional, what was new and although not surprising was social medias reaction. Death has been labelled as a trend on social media and I can see why. I received hundreds of personal messages, my news feeds were filled with status’ and pictures of my brother, some of it was beautiful however I found so many underlying issues with it that I wished for someone else to relate to, who had suffered from grief with social media as part of the process. Both illness and grief can cause significant mental health issues and it is so important we are open about it, I find it’s easier to talk online than to try and explain to someone who may struggle to understand how truly devastating terminal illness can be. I still feel guilty writing this, I feel as though I am ‘selling out’ but I struggle with the way media and other blogs portray childhood/adolescent cancer, it’s not like the movies, every aspect was traumatic and if voicing my thoughts helps, I will continue to write.
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AuthorHow I dealt with the guilt of being the 'healthy' sibling while my brother was terminally sick and what I did during the last six years. ArchivesCategories |