Autumn Toelle-Jackson felt so cursed when she lost both her husband, cousin, grandfather, and later her daughter, in less than a four year period. She really hit bottom, but what helped her out of her depression was the ability to focus on the life these people brought to you. She knew and trusted there were good people in the world, and she knew she would find love again, and that was the hope she needed to keep putting one step in front of the other.

Key Takeaways:

• Autumn has experienced a lot of loss in her life. She shares her grief story.
• Autumn’s husband passed away suddenly when he was 30 years old. There was no explanation as to why. There were no underlying conditions Autumn could pinpoint. One day, he was just gone.
• Autumn found herself as a single mom to a two week old baby and 3 year old.
• Sometimes, you can’t get good answers. You just can’t.
• It’s so easy to put blame on someone or something when someone you love passes.
• Autumn had two sudden losses after that. She had her close cousin pass away as well as her grandfather. There was no warning or time to ‘process’ the emotions.
• Three years later, Autumn remarried and had a beautiful girl with her husband. However, after a very heavy cold, she lost her daughter. It was discovered she had infant botulism.
• How did Autumn keep going? She knew love existed, and she knew she could find it again.
• In the beginning, Autumn felt cursed.
• Although she lost her daughter, she knows her organ donations have helped save the lives of three other people.
• It’s so easy to focus on the stuff that hurts so bad, but remind yourself and remind yourself, and remind yourself, there’s more positives to this than negatives.
• Autumn had horrible days where she felt the world was against her.
• How did Autumn date again after the loss of her husband?
• Even though you have a lot of loss, you can still be happy.
• Autumn had a good day, and that day turned into weeks, and then it turned into months. It’s a slow progress, but it does happen.
• Autumn has had to keep her fears in check and figure out if this is an irrational fear or a rational one.

Resources:

Growingwithgrief.com