Death Becomes Him

Jess joins me virtually from Perth austraila where she has been since earlier this year with fiancé Rob Kearney. Jess opens up about her father’s passing last year and how he encouraged her to live life to the fullest. She talks about the shock of his death, her plans for marriage and finding hope for the future.

The first year after losing a loved one can be the hardest – the first birthday, the first Christmas and the first anniversary without them can be heart breaking. Jess is still very much processing her grief but has used these key moments to remember her highlights with her father and share the love he showed her with the world.

For the first episode of this season we talk to a man who’s story has already been plastered over national media. In January 2020, Andrew McGinley lost his three children Conor, Darragh and Carla to homicide. His wife Deirdre, suffering from a psychiatric disorder, had suffocated the children while Andrew was at work. In May of 2021, her trial revealed the true tragedy of the events, the extent of her illness and the trauma that the family endured. Andrew talks today about life with Deirdre, the verdict of the trial and opens up about the everydayness of grief.

Amanda opens up about the loss of her son Avery in 2019 when the family were on holidays in Spain. While Amanda’s story is heart breaking, she has bravely made the decision to share what her family had endured in the hopes of helping other families.

Today I sit down with Lisa Colhoun.

I find Lisa’s story so tough because it’s a real reminder to make every day count. Lisa was married to Christopher and had two young children. The had bought their dream house, Christopher had just been promoted to principal and Lisa taught in the same school. They enjoyed the simple things – walking their dog, holidays and spending time with family. It was after a dinner with their friends that Christopher started feel unwell and he was soon hospitalised with the flu. Six days later, he unexpectedly passed away. Lisa talks to me today about mourning her soulmate and how she’s coped after such a tragic loss.

On this episode of death becomes him, I sit down once again with my sisters.

Earlier in the year we got together to talk about our mums passing, the shock and the immediate aftermath. At the time I wanted to understand whether I’d ever feel like me again and whether my sisters were experiencing the same sense of something missing. We talked, we laughed, we cried and really we walked away from that conversation understanding each other’s grief a little bit better.

I wanted to revisit this conversation now, a few months and one pandemic later. I want to know if my sisters feel like their grief has changed, how they managed to overcome the shock and how they feel now.