Bracelet for the Bereaved
Wristband for Survivors Lets
Others Know of Pain
By Claire Martin Denver Post
Staff Writer
May 22, 2006
At a grief support group for
friends and relatives struggling
to cope with a loved one's death
last March, one woman nearly
burst with her frustration at a
world that seemed indifferent to
her sorrow.
"I wish there was a way that
I could do something, or wear
something, that would let this
person know that I am a person
who is grieving," said the
woman, after telling about her
encounter that day with a rude
sales clerk. |
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Jennifer McBride, director of
the HeartLight Center, and her
granddaughter, Hannah Ellis, 7,
touch an engraving that honors
McBride s late mother, Margaret
Sutter, on a memorial. (Post /
Andy Cross) |
"I've lost both my husband and son,
and I'm just trying to get by, day to
day."
Her despair caught the imagination of
group leader Jennifer McBride, who has
spent the past 11 years working with
bereaved families.
She came up with a black wristband inspired
by the yellow "LiveStrong" wristbands
popularized by champion cyclist and cancer
survivor Lance Armstrong. His LiveStrong
Foundation sells the wristbands to raise
money for cancer research.
"When you think about it, throughout
human history, we did have rituals and
objects for the grieving," said McBride,
executive director of HeartLight Center, a
bereavement support and education
organization. "In Victorian times, there
were widow's weeds, and memorial jewelry
people wore to let society know they were
bereaved. Police and firefighters wear black
bands over their badges. We've seen
T-shirts, and things like dog tags with a
laser photo engraving. But those things are
expensive."
 |
McBride designed black silicone
bracelets, which sell for $2 at
the HeartLight Center and at
metro-area Horan & McConaty
funeral homes.
(Post / Andy Cross)
|
In contrast, silicone wristbands are
inexpensive to produce and sell. McBride
designed black silicone bracelets with
"REMEMBER" in white. They sell for $2 at
HeartLight Center, 11150 Dartmouth Ave., and
at Horan & McConaty funeral homes throughout
the metro area. The response from the
HeartLight Center's grief support groups was
instant and enthusiastic. At last week's
Baby Boomer Widow/Widower support group,
participants mobbed the center's intern as
soon as she opened the box of wristbands.
"I am personally shocked at the response,"
said HeartLight Center facilitator Rachel
Kodanaz, who initially was skeptical of
McBride's idea.
Connie Robinson, one of the founders of the
widowed baby boomer group, began wearing her
wristband last week. Friends who knew about
her husband's death seemed to know what it
meant. Another friend asked about it, and
then asked Robinson to share a story about
her husband.
Others with similar stories reassured
Kodanaz, who worried that LiveStrong
wristbands and their many imitators - from
pink bands that raise money for
breast-cancer research to multi-hued bands
depicting each of the seven deadly sins -
already glutted the market.
"But as soon as our intern showed the
wristband to the Baby Boomers, they were
like, 'We want this! And we want 5 more,"'
said Kodanaz.
Staff writer Claire
Martin can be reached at 303-820-1477 or
cmartin@denverpost.com
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