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Author, Heidi Snow
Foreword by Mayor Rudy Giuliani
Editor, Ariana Bratt

Surviving Sudden Loss: Stories from those who have lived it contains 28 first-hand stories from those who have lost loved ones suddenly and tragically without warning and without the chance to say goodbye as a result of 9/11, plane crashes, car accidents, a building explosion, crib death, childbirth, suicide, heart attacks…

In their own words, they describe their lives before the loss, when they first learned of the loss, and how they reacted, coped and survived. They describe how it affected them days, weeks, months and years later, and their hard-earned insights from their first-hand experiences with tragedy. Each person in this book describes in detail their difficult and life-changing journey through grief and the remarkable people they have become following their life altering losses.

This book is for people who have lost loved ones suddenly and tragically without warning, those who are helping them navigate and survive their difficult and life-changing journey through sudden loss and everyone with loved ones (mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, husbands, wives, fiancés, dear friends and others) in their lives. Whether you have lost a loved one or not, these stories will touch you.

Elizabeth Spooner Norton lost her entire family in a private plane crash. She shares her story in Surviving Sudden Loss.

These stories will inspire you to survive setbacks and to turn challenges and difficult situations into opportunities for positive growth, happiness and success. They will help you appreciate those who you have in your life today and to strengthen your relationships. They will empower you to embrace every moment of every day with the people you cherish.

Heidi Snow was inspired to write the book as a result of her own loss and her interactions with the bereaved through AirCraft Casualty Emotional Support Services (ACCESS) which she founded after the loss of her fiancés Michel in TWA Flight 800.

Surviving Sudden Loss embodies the philosophy of ACCESS, which is that those who have gone through the loss of a loved one have hard-earned gifts of survival for those just experiencing a loss. It is a collection of personal stories offering insights into surviving sudden loss told by those who have lived through it. The purpose of presenting these stories is for others to be able to realize, That happened to me too. People responded to me like that too. I felt that way too. I am not alone. Since they survived, maybe I can too. The reader can identify with one story or aspects of several stories.

Surviving Sudden Loss, consists of real-life stories of survival after loss to bring comfort to those who are now struggling with the unexpected death of loved ones. Grief after sudden loss is a life-long journey with many common threads. The most important message is that each journey is unique, that lives are forever changed and that survival is possible after the most unthinkable and tragic loss of a loved one. These stories teach that others have survived catastrophic grief. Their personal accounts openly describe the horror that accompanied the news of their loved ones death. The variety of reactions and coping mechanisms they describe demonstrates that there is no preset right way to react emotionally and to survive the loss of a loved one. Many reveal intimate details of personal struggles with pain and anguish that they would have otherwise kept private. They disclose them here in hopes that others might know how difficult it was for them and find some comfort in learning how they survived.

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