I will never forget that moment. It was a potent reminder
of this unwelcome reality. I felt physically sick as the lid was
closed and stared in horror as the bolts tightened. I could feel
my anguish and my fear increase as I got the last glimpse of
my child. I felt so helpless. What could I do? How could I
bring him back? Is this real? We were all thinking the same
way. Insignificant humans, powerless to prevent death
claiming our child. Death had taken him, and the grave
would claim him. We could not prevent it. Breda wrote that
she was mentally screaming, ‘no way, I’m not going anywhere
& neither is he. How did anybody think they could take away
what was rightfully ours. He was our baby’. Deirdre also
found this moment unbearable, and recalls ‘wanting to stay
with him all of the time, not wanting to be taken away from
him. I remember the screams from all of us when they took
Cathal away, and we had to leave’.
Extract from When a Child Dies. Footsteps of a Grieving Family. Published by Veritas.
Tags: bereavement, death of a child, grief