The Motherless

Kelly Ford lost her mum Jill to ovarian cancer aged 15. Grief, as we know, never goes away, but after becoming a mother herself aged 36, Kelly found the questions her grief brought to the surface were questions no one could answer for her - because the only person she really wanted to hear from was Jill. Losing Jill had subtly informed a lot of Kelly’s previous broadcasting work, including The Everything Project, in which she talked to people about a broad range of life experiences, grief included. Now with 7 years experience broadcasting in radio and podcasts and expecting her second child in February 2021, Kelly’s questions felt more urgent than ever, and so she reached out to other mums in her position, mumming without a mum to support them. What emerged was a set of conversations with women from a range of backgrounds, who’d had a range of relationships - positive and negative - with their lost mums. The Motherless aims to start a positive conversation about parenting and grief and to create a warm and safe communal space where people who are looking for support and information can turn.