Jessica Fein shares her deeply personal journey of loss, grief, and resilience. Having lost two sisters, three parents, and most recently, her teenage daughter Dahlia—who passed away one week after her 17th birthday—Jessica's life has been profoundly shaped by death. Her memoir, which explores Dahlia’s life and the journey of moving forward together, has become a key part of her work in writing about grief.
Society widely acknowledges the devastation of losing a child, but the grief of siblings, who lose their lifelong companions and history keepers, is sometimes unrecognized. She discusses how children not only mourn their sibling but also experience the additional pain of witnessing their parents' grief, often feeling invisible in the process.
Jessica speaks about how the trauma of a long-term illness shaped their family. Dahlia lived with a degenerative disease from age five, creating an ongoing cycle of anticipatory and ambiguous grief. She explains ambiguous grief as mourning someone who is still alive but profoundly changed—whether due to illness, addiction, or other circumstances. This concept helped her make sense of the loss she experienced over time as Dahlia lost the ability to walk, talk, and even breathe without assistance. It also highlighted the loss of normalcy and community, isolating their family in ways few can understand.
She also touches on the impact of grief on relationships, acknowledging that 87% of marriages dissolve when a child has special needs, let alone a terminal illness. She and her husband grieve differently—she finds healing in open conversations, while he prefers silence. Understanding these differences has helped them navigate their loss together rather than apart.
TEDx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClaQkyLnAaw
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