Helping Children, Teens Cope
and Grieve When Mom Dies

"Remembering Mommy," a first-person look at a family adapting to the death of their mother and wife, will air on CN8's Real Life with Mary Amoroso at 6 p.m., Wednesday, March 6.

On the show, Leroy Nunery, vice president of Business Services and his family tell what life has been like for each of them since his wife, Carolyn Thomas Nunery, died of cancer last March.

The Nunery children and their dad, Leroy, share how they have kept a cookie-baking tradition alive through the aid of the Mommy's Light Lives On Fund. Founded in 1997 to support children and teens whose mothers are in life-threatening situations or are deceased, this non-profit group helps them continue traditions or simple pleasures they shared with their mothers. For the Nunery family, the cookie-baking helps them keep Carolyn Nunery a part of their lives and is a way to honor her.

Also joining the program will be Dr. Mimi Mahon, a clinical specialist in end-of-life care and ethics at HUP and a senior fellow at Penn's Center for Bioethics. She says bereaved children and teens strive for normalcy.

Dr. Mahon supports Mommy's Light's emphasis on building experiences that recognize the "normal" aspects of these young people's lives. Continuing rituals and traditions, she says, can facilitate their adaptation.

Mommy's Light Lives On Fund estimates that 20,000 children and teens in the Delaware Valley are dealing with the potential or actual loss of their mothers. For more information, call (610) 725-9790 or visit the website at www.mommyslight.org