- 12/8/2010 2:03:16 PMTraumaRecently, Elizabeth Edwards (wife of former senator John Edwards) died from breast cancer. The impact on children left behind when a mother dies is devastating. Emotional recovery can vary greatly depending on how well the children are supported after the loss.
Several well known celebrity personalities have lost a parent at an early age. Pop star Madonna lost her mother to cancer when she was 6. She comments on the loss by saying it was "like having your heart ripped out of your chest. Like missing a limb. the ultimate abandonment." Scores of other high-profile adults describe the associated loneliness and anguish they encountered. Even many years later, the pain remains.
One of the most telling comments comes from the author of the Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis whose mother died when he was 9. He writes,
"With my mother's death - all settled happiness, all that was tranquil and reliable, disappeared from my life. There was to be much fun, many pleasures, many stabs of joy; but no more of the old security. It was sea and islands now. The great continent had sunk like Atlantis."
Who views their mother like a "great continent"? Young children - that's who.
