Grief Biography

Grief is a personal journey that is often filled with unexplained emotions and numberless moments of walking side-by-side with Christ, praying for words, wisdom, and answers. In a candid collection of narratives, stories, and poetry shared to help those struggling with loss, Mark Lanford offers an inspirational glimpse into his sometimes lonely, sometimes supported walk through heart-shattering grief after losing his wife of forty-two years.

On August 15, 2014, I received a phone call that would forever change my life. My husband of 19 years, Larry, and only child, nine-year-old Landon, had just died in a plane crash. This is my survival story. I say survival because at times I thought I would die of a broken heart. Although this story is the raw, vulnerable truth of grief, my survival is anchored in hope and faith that was shaken to its core. God met me right where I was and walked with me on the most difficult and burdensome journey of my life. My prayer is that my story helps pave the path for others on this journey.

The stunning and heartbreaking story of the young son of Rachel Nickell - who witnessed the brutal attack on his mother and whose childhood was shaped by the media storm that followed. A coming-of-age story that begins with a tragedy but ends in optimism, forgiveness and peace.

Once in a lifetime, if you are lucky, you come across that one special pet. The one who is more than just the typical companion. The one whom you know, your souls have met before. Barron was that pet for me. She was the best cat I could have ever asked for. Even at 16, she seemed like a young cat and I thought we still had years together. Cancer had other plans. This is the story, told as it happened, of having to say goodbye to the best kitty I will ever know.

What would you do if a stranger told you your son was going to die? Silas is 10 years old when the headaches start. When the diagnosis arrives, his parents are told they have until Christmas...maybe. And so begins Sarah Pullen's battle to save her son, against doubting doctors and insurmountable odds. This story about love and loss traces her family's journey from that first day at the hospital, battling a tumour they named Bob, through Silas' death and beyond.

Kate Braestrup's life was transformed by the loss of her husband; now Kate faces the possibility that she may lose her son. As a young mother, Kate Braestrup discovered the fierce protectiveness that accompanies parenthood. In the intervening years - through mourning her husband and the joy of remarriage and a blended family - Kate has absorbed the rewards and complications of that spirit. But when her eldest son joins the marines, Kate is at a crossroads.

A Life Lost. A Love Cut Short. 'From the moment I set eyes on him I adored him. The connection between us was so strong it went beyond everything else. His job, my job, his lifestyle, my lifestyle. All that fell away...'Christina and Oz had their whole lives ahead of them. Oz was one of only a handful of bomb disposal experts serving in the British Army, but to Christina he was a loving and devoted husband and father - the one person she could never live without.

An inspirational and heartrending memoir about Ben Breedlove, whose videos about his near-death experiences and visions of heaven went viral in 2012, written by his sister Ally Breedlove. On Christmas Day 2011, Ben Breedlove's soul went to heaven. But it wasn't his first time there. Ben suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a heart condition that posed a constant risk of sudden death. His condition, a thickening of the heart muscle, worsened over time, leaving him weak and fatigued.

At the age of 18, Tré Miller Rodríguez gave her newborn daughter up for adoption. At 19 her only sibling was killed in a car accident. At 34 her husband, Alberto, died of a sudden heart attack. But at 36 her teenage daughter found her on Facebook and began to reshape the course of Tré's life.

On July 23, 2007, Dr. William Petit suffered an unimaginable horror: Armed strangers broke into his suburban Connecticut home in the middle of the night, bludgeoned him nearly to death, tortured and killed his wife and two daughters, and set their house on fire. He miraculously survived, and yet living through those horrific hours was only the beginning of his ordeal. Broken and defeated, Bill was forced to confront a question of ultimate consequence: How does a person find the strength to start over and live again after confronting the darkest of nightmares?

A bright light was extinguished in the universe on January 13, 2004, when 21-year old Rebekah Swanson, a college senior, died in a car accident. In More Than Can Be Measured, author Rona Swanson, Rebekah’s mother, shares her thoughts, feelings, and emotions as she and the family deal with their grief in the aftermath of Rebekah’s sudden death. Weaving in entries from Rebekah’s journal and photos, this memoir shares the wisdom and understanding Swanson gained as she felt the stark pain of the loss of her daughter.

When your life falls apart - through a death, a lost relationship, a diagnosis - you want more than anything to know that your pain has a purpose. And that beyond your pain, a new day awaits. Tricia Lott Williford discovered this in a few tragic hours when her 35-year-old husband died unexpectedly. In And Life Comes Back, she writes with soaring prose about her tender, brave journey as a widow with two young boys in the agonizing days and months that followed his death.

On the first day of school, 10-year-old Jeffrey and his six-year-old brother, Tyler, climbed out of the school bus at the foot of their driveway, walking into their home, excited about the first day of school. Instantly, their anticipation for the family back-to-school celebration turned to horror as they found their father murdered, stabbed and shot in a laundry room awash with blood. With a rush of adrenaline and terror, Jeffrey hid his younger brother, huddled behind the couch, and called 911 where his mother had worked for years.

In an effort to make sense of the deaths in quick succession of several loved ones, Kathleen Dean Moore turned to the comfort of the wild, making a series of solitary excursions into ancient forests, wild rivers, remote deserts, and windswept islands to learn what the environment could teach her in her time of pain. This audiobook is the record of her experiences.

Texas businessman Mike Fechner had it all. Money. Investments. Prestige. Until he did the unthinkable. He sold his company and poured his life's earnings into a ministry for the poor. With a strong faith in God at his core, this millionaire turned missionary envisioned a long future serving the urban Dallas poor and the people of poverty-stricken Africa.

February 29th is a date that comes into existence just once every four years. It is also the birthday of Thais - author Anne-Dauphine Julliand's darling daughter - who died of a genetic disease. Thais lived just shy of her fourth birthday. She had a short life but good one. As this special day is about to reappear on her calendar for the first time since her daughter passed away, Anne-Dauphine struggles with how to mark this momentous occasion. She wants to live fully on this special day: Thais would have been eight years old.

The Magic of Life explores how he overcame tragedy, grief, and depression throughout his life. Even though he lost his mother, he and his brother were raised by his father and an incredible Jamaican woman who stepped in to fill the mother’s role. Michael shares his unique life about loss and how he finally addressed his grief with a blend of humor and inspiration that will have you crying and laughing throughout the book.

In the aftermath of a heartbreaking tragedy, a scholar and writer uses Dante's Divine Comedy to shepherd him through the dark wood of grief and mourning - a rich and emotionally resonant memoir of suffering, hope, love, and the power of literature to inspire and heal the most devastating loss.

In Permission to Thrive, Susan traces her extraordinary journey, which begins when her healthy 14-year-old daughter dies suddenly from a brain tumor, and the family's decision - on the worst day of their lives - to donate Laura's organs, saving the life of a women with whom the Miller family would eventually cultivate an exceptional relationship.

Like the biblical Job, John Ramsey had it all - wealth, social position, a loving family. And like Job, Ramsey was destined for great affliction, as many of the most precious things in his life were cruelly taken from him.