Maria Hopfgarten, author of the book “Letters to Jacob: Grieving the Loss of a Child” joins Aaron Johnson to share about the loss her son when he was 10 years old. He suffered from mitochondrial disease, a debilitating disease that required constant care for his basic needs. Maria is an incredible example of a parent who poured all of her love and energy into caring for a child with special needs.
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00:00 Intro
05:10 About Maria Hopfgarten, author of “Letters to Jacob: Grieving the Loss of a Child”
07:50 A special needs child’s personality lifts up others
08:35 Learning to talk with a computer
10:25 What is mitochondrial disease?
14:30 Losing a special needs sibling
16:15 How does life change with a special needs child?
19:10 Caring for a sibling of a special needs child
21:51 Remaining positive with a severely sick child
24:35 How do you stay happy when you’re heartbroken from a family member’s death?
27:05 Becoming active in the special needs community and Children’s Hospital Colorado
29:45 Coping with grief and helping others
30:35 Processing grief through blogging
33:00 Publicly grieving online for the world to see
35:17 How-to help books on grief don’t help
37:05 How co-workers react to your grief when you lose a child
42:36 Children’s Hospital Colorado is amazing
45:50 How “Letters to Jacob:Grieving the Loss of a Child” was written
53:57 Maria Hopfgarten’s advice for people who’ve lost a close family member
57:20 Maria’s favorite memory of her son Jacob
01:01:10 Maria Hopfgarten’s blog and Amazon store
01:02:40 Concluding remarks
#whatsgood #colorado #community #communitysupport #givingback #specialneeds
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