MSI Press Blog

  The following post is from Pat Young, co-author of Life after Losing a Child . The holidays conjure up visions of families enjoying the festive atmosphere of Christmas. But it’s not so festive for everyone. One woman I interviewed while working on a book lost her son a few months before Christmas. The family kept him with them during the holidays by putting his photograph under the Christmas tree.                 “We had him with us for Christmas,” the grieving mother said.                 Another family kept their son’s memory alive by including his beloved dog in festivities. The dog had acquired many mannerisms from its late companion. Even questionable “dog manners” like begging at the dinner table were accepted with a smile and fond memories of the boy who would slip treats to the dog while eating dinner.    ...

Name: Patricia Young Book: Life after Losing a Child   Date of Interview: August 5, 2018 Who are you? What do you want readers to know about you? Pat Young has written for the Daytona Beach News Journal, South Bend Tribune, Flint (Michigan) Journal, Clarkston (Michigan) News, New Mexico Magazine, Silver City (New Mexico) Life Magazine, and other publications. She earned numerous awards for her writing, including National Newspaper Association and Michigan Press Association awards. She earned two media awards while at the South Bend Tribune. One of her stories (Giant Wind Harp in Tune with Nature) in New Mexico Magazine was chosen for inclusion in SIRS Discoverer data bases. Why are you qualified to write this book? Pat, and her late co-author Joanna Romer, are both widows. Though neither has lost a child, both women understood the painful bereavement process one goes through after the loss of a loved one.   What is th...

Congratulations to Pat Young, co-author with Joanna Romer of Life after Losing a Child , for the front-page article on their book in the Volusia News (Daytona Beach, Florida). Pat was interviewed earlier by MSI Blog. Check out her interview to learn more about her. Pat and Joanna's book is available in the MSI Press webstore; use FF25 for 25% dsicount. Click here to get to the book fast.  The book also available at all online retailers and some brick-and-mortar stores. A reasonable number of free review copies can be made available in exchange for writing and posting reviews. Contact editor@msipress.com to express your interest. Truly a helpful book for anyone who has experienced the tragedy of losing a child.

  excerpt from Life after L RIVER CHILD   Our children are like rivers Flowing with the seasons of our lives. Some meander gently Through pockets of humanity. Some flow quietly into oceans, While others encounter Deep gorges and tumbling waterfalls. It is this “challenged river” Which carves the deepest banks, Leaving the greatest mark upon the earth. While some of our river children Flow on through many sunsets, Others make a briefer splash. But when the river child Who flowed through many challenges Disappears, It leaves behind those beautiful carvings, Etched deeply into the banks Of our memories. -Pat Young osing a Child For more posts about the late Joanna Romer and her works, click HERE . For more posts about Pat Young and her works, click HERE . 25% discount on paperback with code FF25 at www.msipress.com/shop Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .

  The second MSI book by Pat Young and the eleventh in our pandemic series, Exercising in a Pandemic , was released today.  See information about Pat's other book, Life after Losing a Child , HERE . 

  Pat Young has written for the  Daytona Beach News Journal ,   South Bend Tribune ,   Flint (MI) Journal ,   Clarkston (MI) News ,   Hometown News   in Daytona Beach, Florida,   New Mexico Magazine ,   Silver City Life Magazine   and other publications. She also worked in public relations and advertising for several real estate companies in Michigan, New Mexico and Florida. She earned awards for her writing, including National Newspaper Association and Michigan Press Association awards. She earned two media awards while at the   South Bend Tribune . One of her stories in   New Mexico Magazine   (“Giant Wind Harp in Tune with Nature”) was chosen for inclusion in the SIRS Discoverer data base. She has an associate degree in liberal arts. She has written stories, articles and poetry since she was a kid, but the book she is co-authoring with Joanna Romer,   Life after Losing a Child , is her first book. When she isn’t wr...

  When a child dies, the entire family changes. Parents grieve not only the child they lost but also the innocence of the children who remain. Sibling grief is complex — it’s shaped by age, personality, and the way the family navigates sorrow together. Helping children cope means guiding them through emotions that are too big for words, while modeling that love and memory can coexist with pain. 💔 Understanding Sibling Grief Children grieve differently than adults. Young children may not grasp permanence; they expect their sibling to return. Older children may feel guilt, anger, or confusion — wondering why they survived or what they could have done. Teens often wrestle with identity and isolation, fearing that their grief makes them different from peers. Each child’s grief is unique, and it evolves over time. What matters most is presence — not perfect words. 🕊️ What Parents Can Do Name the loss honestly. Avoid euphemisms. Children need clarity to feel safe. Keep routines ste...

  Anger is grief’s fire. It burns through numbness and demands to be felt. It is not cruelty, nor loss of control — it is the body’s way of saying, “I have been wounded.” It is a sign that the heart is waking up. It is the heat beneath the hurt — proof that love still burns, even in loss. When denial begins to fade, the rawness of reality rushes in. The mind, stripped of its protective fog, reaches for something solid — and anger provides that solidity. It gives shape to pain that would otherwise feel formless. It gives voice to the injustice of loss. Anger can flare at anyone or anything: at doctors who couldn’t save, at God for allowing it, at the person who died for leaving, at oneself for not preventing it, at the world for continuing as if nothing happened. It is the protest of love against the finality of death. Underneath the heat lies heartbreak. The deeper the love, the deeper the fury. Anger is the mind’s attempt to push back against helplessness — to reclaim agency, even...

  Excerpt from Life after Losing a Child by Pat Young and Romer - Losing a Second Child Cristy got her transplant and seemed to be doing very well. She enrolled in college and went on with her life, but then her lungs failed again. She had a double lung transplant at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. Then, she needed a kidney transplant because the anti-rejection medicine caused her kidneys to fail. Kathleen was relieved when she was able to donate one of hers to her daughter. If nothing else, it would buy them more time.            The day before she was to receive her bachelor’s degree, the doctors told Cristy her lungs were failing and there was nothing else they could do. “Mom,” Cristy had said to Kathleen in tears, “I’m dying, and I don’t want to die.” Cristy moved back home where her mom could take care of her. Kathleen made her car into “a little ambulance” and took her daughter to Pittsburgh, hoping to get another t...

  After losing a child, the world often grows strangely opaque. People avert their eyes, conversations shift, and the ordinary rhythm of life resumes around you as if nothing has changed. You walk through grocery aisles, attend meetings, answer emails—but inside, you’re transparent. You exist, yet you feel unseen. 1. The Silence Around Loss Grief makes others uncomfortable. They don’t know what to say, so they say nothing. That silence can feel like erasure—as if your child’s life, and your love, have vanished from the collective memory. You begin to wonder whether your pain is visible at all. 2. The Disconnection of Identity Before loss, you were a parent with a living child. After loss, that identity becomes invisible too. You still feel like a mother or father, but the world no longer recognizes that role. Self‑compassion becomes the act of affirming your identity even when others cannot see it. 3. The Need to Be Witnessed Being seen is part of healing. When someone listens with...