Odin's Valkyries
Unfortunately, sometimes our warriors fall. Due to their medical complexities they are typically not eligible for life insurance. This leaves bereaved families with even more financial burdens on top of the medical and equipment expenses. The average funeral cost can range from $5000-$10000. Our little warriors deserve to be remembered and take the next steps on their journey with dignity and honor. We at the Odin George Foundation strive to help parents or guardians carry on the memory of their fallen warrior. Depending on financial circumstances, we may help qualified applicants by contributing up to $2500 for funerary services, cremation, or burial.
We understand the profound loss that comes with losing a child with complex medical issues. We were actively caring for our son Odin eighteen hours per day between treatments, medication, feeding, therapies, and just being parents. We understand how profoundly the absence of their presence is felt–the feeling of being unmoored and adrift after having the life you loved abruptly ripped away.
“Grief, I’ve learned, is really just love. It’s all the love you want to give, but cannot. All that unspent love gathers up in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in that hollow part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go.” ~ Jamie Anderson
Because of this understanding we also want to provide comfort–knowing that the love for your child and the resulting grief of losing that child will remain. We have plans to expand Odin’s Valkyries in the future, by potentially hosting grief retreats. The following resources have helped us on our grief journey.
Grief Resources
The Compassionate Friends – Have been a helpful resource for our own personal grief support. They have local chapter meetings once per month, which cover a wide spectrum of support. From parents and grandparents, to also sibling grief support.
The Compassionate Friends mission statement: “When a child dies, at any age, the family suffers intense pain and may feel hopeless and isolated. The Compassionate Friends provides highly personal comfort, hope, and support to every family experiencing the death of a son or a daughter, a brother or a sister, or a grandchild, and helps others better assist the grieving family.”
There are also a number of Facebook groups covering a wide range of grief resources for different situations.
Books
Normal Broken by Kelly Cervantes
It’s Ok that You’re not Ok by Megan Devine
Podcasts
All there Is with Anderson Cooper – “Anderson Cooper takes us on a deeply personal exploration of loss and grief. He starts recording while packing up the apartment of his late mother Gloria Vanderbilt. Going through her journals and keepsakes, as well as things left behind by his father and brother, Cooper begins a series of emotional and moving conversations about the people we lose, the things they leave behind, and how to live on – with loss, with laughter, and with love.”