Living with grief
A look into my life and why I am not surprised by anything.
Working in television news for 23 years I have reported on thousands of personal tragedies.
From mass shootings to fatal accidents —- I have interviewed people who had no idea that their loved ones would be gone in the blink of an eye.
There is a lot about me that people don’t know, I am about to fill you in on my life and what makes me tick.
I first experienced tragedy when I was two and a half years old.
My sister Joan died in a car crash.
Joan was 17 at the time and a student at Westland John Glenn High School.
Joan was a star athlete, a cheerleader, and was someone who I was told was friends with the cool kids and not-so-cool kids.
I don’t remember much at all about Joan, but I was told that I was her everything.
I was told that Joan treated me like her own kid.
My mom tells me I really didn’t understand Joan’s death.
Even though I was not even a three-year-old I would be forever impacted by her death.
I felt as if Joan was always looking over me from heaven.
Many years later in 2007, my brother Joey died at the age of 42 in his sleep at my parent’s house.
Joey suffered from heart issues and was yet another shock to my family.
Joey was someone who kept it as real as can be.
His sudden death also hit me hard and made me realize how precious life can be.
Five years later in 2012, my dad passed away.
My dad suffered from a massive stroke and was left paralyzed and has suffered for three years living in a nursing home.
My dad’s death was not a surprise, it was something he had wanted due to being paralyzed for years and confined to a nursing home.
My dad James was what I would call the founder of the Keeping It Real movement.
My dad was someone who did not hold back what he thought about anything.
That is one thing that I got from my dad that I will always take pride in.
He is a man who will never be forgotten by those who met him.
Fast forward to September 2017 when I was shocked to get the news that my best friend Sean O’Sullivan passed away suddenly.
Days before his death I had talked to Sean and urged him to go to the hospital because he wasn’t feeling well.
Sean’s death hit me hard.
Sean was someone I could turn to talk about anything at any time of the day.
I first met him when we played little league together when we were 8-years-old.
Losing Sean made me realize that life is so very precious and worrying about the small stuff doesn’t matter.
My point in writing this is to give all of you an inside view of my life, but also to help you to realize that the small stuff and everyday stuff doesn’t mean a darn thing in the end.
Enjoy life, take chances and enjoy your loved ones.
Thank you Dave, I to lost my son to suicide almost seven years ago... My heart n prayers are with u n urs from men and mine....Trish
I too understand grief. My grandparents are all deceased. I really only knew my grandmas. My sister, was murdered in flint, in her front yard, another sister died suddenly after my brother in law, 8 months later. They were husband and wife , both 49. Soon after my father passed at 73, my nephew a victim of suicide, and most recently my mother. I miss her so much. I struggle too with anticipatory grief. I fear loss. Just lost my 10 year old boxer. May they all rest in heaven.