A single mom from Gainesville, Florida who is approaching the first year anniversary of her son's death encouraged people who have suffered loss to come alive again through a website she called "On Coming Alive." The website which published 70 true stories from individuals who has lost their loved ones was launched in February.
On April 2014, Lexi Behrndt gave birth to Charlie who was diagnosed to have a Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Connection, a defect in the veins leading from the heart to the lungs. Sixteen hours after his birth, Charlie had to be flown to a different hospital for an open-heart surgery which he managed to survive. However the baby died on October of the same year due to vein defects and his weak lungs. The incident made Lexi live a robotic life, numbing herself of the pain of losing Charlie to be able to continue and live for her older son Lincoln.
"I didn't understand why he had so much to bring to the world and his life was so short," said Behrndt, according to Parenting.
That was when she started her blog "Scribbles and Crumb" where she wrote about life after lost. She also did a moving essay titled "It's Worth it: Love in the face of death," wherein she poured her heart and her positive outlook on the death of her youngest son. But she felt that there's more she can do for grieving parents and she realized that it is not just about overcoming the pain but coming alive once again.
"Coming alive has meant not numbing myself to the pain and not hiding from it, but instead facing it," said the determined mom. "If I numb myself to the pain, I somehow numb myself to the joy," she added.
The site is continuing to collect more stories not only about grief and loss but about a wider variety of topics as well.
"It's a challenge to the world to say, 'No matter what you've suffered - our scars may not match - but we can grab hands and do this together," said Lexi Behrndt, according to Today.
