ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – Helping people deal with grief.
The Tom Coughlin Jay Fund held its annual remembrance weekend in Ponta Vedra Beach to pay tribute to kids who died from cancer while helping their families cope with their loss.
32 kids and teenagers who died from cancer were honored.
The Tom Coughlin Jay Fund held its annual remembrance weekend for families in Ponta Vedra Beach and ended it with a candlelight service Sunday morning.
Helena Gutierrez Richards is familiar with the pain.
She lost her oldest son Mark from leukemia when he was 7 years old in 1981.
“After he died, we were lost, Richards said of Mark who was diagnosed when he was 3 years old. “We did not know what to do anymore. We hope that this weekend gives them a tool for a phrase or something to take home that will help them as they move along,” said Richards.
Richards still grieves but turned it into action over the years. She became a social worker for pediatric cancer patients and well became a parent-advocate volunteer with the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund.
“To me, it brought meaning to his life,” Richards said. “It brought me back to a place where I could be helpful to other people hopefully. It brought me peace.”
Keli Coughlin is the organization’s CEO. It provides financial and emotional support to kids and their families from the moment of a child’s cancer diagnosis.
“Most of us cannot imagine what it would be like to have a child diagnosed with cancer,” Coughlin said. “Certainly, cannot imagine what it would be like to lose a child to cancer.”
The remembrance weekend included families speaking with experts and counselors about losing their loved ones and introducing therapeutic ways to manage their sorrow, like writing about the pain.
One of the exercises this weekend was a chance for families to customize mason jars to memorialize their child. Each one had different designs to display each child’s character.
It was a time to heal, honor and remember.
“It really sustains them through the next year,” Coughlin said.
“That is what opens the door,” Richards said. “That is what I hope gives them hope to see me and to see that I can move on with life. I [will] never forget Mark. He is always in our hearts. He is always with us.”
Former Jaguars and Giants head coach Tom Coughlin founded the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Foundation in 1996. It has provided more than $24 million in support to families in the Jacksonville, New Jersey and New York areas.