When one reads about her IH, i wonder how many can address some of her difficulties on a personal level. For instance, we are talking about 'family', not people she did not know.
My mum, lost her father early in her teens, later in life her mother; [both parents from the same disasterous type of accidents], her sister [not too much older than she] in her teens, her brothers [both to very serious illnesses] later in life.
To lose so young in life a loved one for many does not make them bounce back into life so easily. For many, losing a parent is enough, but when other members die it may be something they don't really get over with. In those days, they did not have all the counseling services we have today, nor the completeness of understanding the loss of so many things, hitting one person. Also, remember the type of illnesses, and deaths each of her loved ones went through. Can any of us equate that kind of understanding, and with that kind of backdrop ?
Each of us reacts to reality differently, and our dreams as well can be at time quite telling.
In all of it, one may teeter on what 'if' because of so much saddness. It's another vast step in growing. Some of us cope quite well, some of us not at all. Depending upon the quality of our lives, our interactions, our jobs, and of course the immense responsibilty such as her IH A had, it was a balancing act she had to perform daily.
Not something any of us can or could possibly take lightly.
Tatiana