'I honour my lost children by living life to the full'

One of the last photographs taken of the three siblings, Abby, Dan and Natalie

Every parent would say the death of one child is unthinkable, but Mu Goode from Gateshead has lost two of her three adult children.

Her daughter died of a pulmonary embolism, then her son was lost to cancer twenty years later.

Mrs Goode, 75, turned to a charity called Compassionate Friends - which provides support and friendship to bereaved parents, grandparents and siblings - to help her cope with the deaths of her children.

Now she says she "honours their memory by trying to live life to the full".

Mrs Goode's daughter Natalie was just 24 when she returned to the UK from a trip to Australia.

Six weeks later she became ill and died on New Years Eve 2000 from a clot which blocked a blood vessel in the lungs.

"It was just horrific," Mrs Goode said

"I was a very fit person, but I couldn't walk. I walked into walls; people thought I was drunk but I wasn't.

"I couldn't eat, my son had to make me smoothies because I couldn't chew. We were all just in so much shock."

Mu's surviving daughter (in the centre) now lives in Australia

After Natalie died, Mrs Goode was helped by Compassionate Friends.

"While it is a group nobody wants to join," she said, "it was still a huge comfort to meet people who understand and know you're not going mad."

But 20 years later, after Mrs Goode returned from her first holiday since her daughter died, she had a call from her son

He told her he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and given just three months to live.

He died on 30 March 2020 during the first national Covid-19 lockdown.

"I always said I could never go through that again," Mrs Goode said.

"And what was worse was when he went into a hospice, they said I couldn't go in and he died without me there.

"He had planned a big funeral but we could only have ten people, but he left letters for us all, and for all the milestones in his daughter's life.

"Having lost his sister he wanted to make it as easy as possible for us all."

Mu Goode loves to visit her daughter Abby in Australia

Her surviving daughter Abby lives in Australia and Mrs Goode has recently returned from a visit.

"I'm very sociable, I have lots of friends and I honour my children's memory by living life to the full," she explained

"I'm not prepared to sit at home and be miserable because that's the last thing they'd want me to do."

Compassionate Friends holds its annual service for bereaved families at St Johns Church on Grainger Street in Newcastle at 2pm on Saturday 16 March.

Jenny Ford, from the charity, said: “The service is a simple candle-lighting service and is for anyone whose child has died.

"It’s open to parents of all faiths and none, and other family members are welcome too.

"It’s an opportunity to remember that loved one amongst people who understand."

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