Memorial blog sites can help those coping with grief

Can blogging sites help with grief?  Such a topic made me think of the death of my oldest son, Andrew Franklin.   It's ironic that such a topic popped up on the Help A Reporter Out web site because the Monday before Thanksgiving was the last time I held my son before he died of lung complications due to his Trisomy 18 genetic condition.   For those who don't know anything about Trisomy 18, it's kind of like combining Downs Syndrome and cancer.    With a third chromosone cell, Andrew would have died at birth, except he lived almost a year.

A reporter in North Carolina posted a question on this topic, and it got me to want to blog about it.   First, the grief process for anyone who loses a child is difficult.  There are family grief support groups out there, but a blogging site allows those of us who have problems sharing our grief to write about it.

From reading the query, it appears that the reporter is trying to set up a site for her newspaper.  I would think it would be on the scale of a living memorial.   If you lose a son, daughter, spouse, brother, sister or other loved one to an accident or illness, a memorial blog allows everyone to share their thoughts and sympathy with others who have faced the same issues and difficulties associated with this tragedy.

Maybe, this new blog is an effective way for funeral homes, non profits and other organizations to  share information and provide online support.  For many of us, the grieving process can take years to overcome.  Even now, the thought of losing my oldest son still hurts a little, but I was fortunate enough to have friends and family to help me.   Had this loss occurred today, a blogging site would have helped me deal with the grief.