A local funeral director got in touch with us to discuss how the coronavirus lockdown was affecting funerals.
She made reference to a family who had buried their 22 year-old daughter under lockdown.
Knowing it would be a much stronger story, I asked to be put in touch with the family.
I sensitively interviewed the heartbroken father who opened up to me about his daughter and - crucially for the story angle - shared all the ways that lockdown had impacted on their grieving process.
The story ended up being a very moving but also informative piece. It has had 14,320 page views.
When I write these kind of stories I am very conscious of doing them justice to not cause the families any further distress.
The messages I receive after publication telling me I have “made our grieving so much easier to bear,” let me know I have succeeded.
In this case the father said: “Just wanted to say a big thank you. The article was beautiful. It made us both proud and emotional.”
I ended up having so much content that the original approach from the funeral home became a separate but linked story here.
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