Susan Loch is a mother-of-three children who lived a carefree life until 21 March 2011. When she woke to find a policeman standing beside her husband; She immediately guessed the sickening truth. Jessica, her nineteen-year-old daughter, had been killed, the latest victim of a treacherous stretch of the Princes Highway on the New South Wales south coast. Life, as Susan knew it, had changed forever.
"Jessica’s Gift" is her candid and heartfelt story, charting how Susan grappled with each subsequent day. Initially, her grief felt intolerable and unending, but while she despaired, she didn’t give up. Gradually, hope, peace and even joy crept back into her life. Susan's intention with writing "Jessica’s Gift" is to help other bereaved parents not feel so alone - and also give an insight to anyone else who seeks to understand the trauma of child bereavement.
At first Susan felt guilty when she learned to smile again, when she started to enjoy life again. These days she doesn’t feel guilty when she says "I love life", because she knows her Jess would want and expect this from her. Some days she feels her life is so blessed, she wakes up most days and smiles. Losing a child is obviously totally different to losing a husband or wife, but grief should not be compared. Susan wishes things were different and that Jess was still here, but she is not, and we cannot change that, so she has learnt to live the best life she can with the cards she has been dealt.
Susan launched her book on 22 Nov 2020; it sold out in one week - and so has the next shipment. Meanwhile the third order of books has arrived and are making their ways into bookshops in the Northern Beaches, Eastern Suburbs, the Shire and also around the Campbelltown area. I am looking forward to introducing you to Susan, what a remarkable woman!
For more resources or to get in touch, please visit MarieAlessi.com
