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Helen Fitzgerald,
author of The Grieving Teen
interviewed by Julie Richer
Helen Fitzgerald is author of The Grieving Teen, a book for
young people who have experienced a loss, such as a death or divorce
in the family, a breakup or a move in the middle of high school. She
is also a certified death educator with 23 years of experience, and
has been the Director of Training for the American Hospice Foundation.
How did you get started?
I used to be commercial artist. In 1971 my first husband was diagnosed
with terminal brain cancer and died in 1974. In those days, it was
common for doctors not to tell their patients they were dying, so
my husband was never told he had brain cancer. I had 2 teens and
2 younger kids. I remember sitting them down to tell them that their
father was really ill and wouldn't be coming home. My teen's reaction
really surprised me. She said, "Can we get a kitten?" I understood
later why she said that. She just needed to think about something
happy.
I decided there had to be a better way to do this.
Did your husband ever know?
I think he knew, but we just didn't talk about it. The surgeon
refused to tell him.
Was he in the hospital or home?
The last 9 months he was in the hospital, and the last 7 months,
he was in a coma. This was before hospices. He knew he had a tumor
in his brain, but he didn't know it would be terminal. The doctors
told me he only had six months to live.
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