Members' Stories

Here are just a few stories from our incredible members and how our charity has supported them. 

Celebrating Diwali: Finding light in the darkness

Nov 2023

WAY member Shalini explains how her Indian heritage and her Hindu faith have affected her bereavement journey since her husband died – and she shares how she will be celebrating Diwali this year by lo…

World Menopause Day: Landmark opportunity inspired WAY member’s short story on menopause

Oct 2023

When writer Cath Holland’s husband Andy died of bowel cancer in 2019, she wasn’t able to write her own stories at first. So when Cath saw that WAY was offering members an opportunity to stay in a Land…

Marking Black History Month: Johanna’s story

Sept 2023

WAY volunteer Johanna Pereira shares the story of how she navigated the cultural challenges of being widowed and Black

Providing a support network for military widows

Jun 2023

To mark Armed Forces Day, we share the story of WAY Ambassador Emma Gray, who has set up a support group for members of our charity who are either serving in the military or whose late partner or spou…

Caring for carers: Finding a web of support

Jun 2023

To mark Carers' Rights Day, charity consultant widowed dad Josh Cass writes about how he coped as a carer for his wife when she was ill with cancer, thanks to a web of support from friends and family.

Gavin’s Story: Coping with Father’s Day as a widowed dad

Jun 2023

As Father’s Day approaches, Gavin reflects on his experiences and how he’s coped with his own grief while raising his 8-year-old son, Magnus.

Rob shares his story for Men's Health Week

Jun 2023

WAY volunteer Rob shares how the online world helped him to make new friends and stay connected after his wife died for Men's Health Week.

Steven's Story

Jun 2023

Ahead of Father’s Day, Wirral-based WAY member Steven shares his story…

Flying High: Amanda's Story

Mar 2023

WAY Widowed and Young member Amanda from Scotland shares how she took up flying as a new focus after her husband Davie died. You can read more about Amanda’s story in the April 2023 issue of Prima mag…

"Will there be other people like us?" - Pete's Story

Mar 2023

When Pete's first WAY Forward newsletter fell onto the doormat, the PGL weekend in February immediately piqued his interest.

Siobhan's Story: Cohabiting Couples Campaign

Feb 2023

When Siobhan discovered through conversations with Citizen’s Advice that parents who were not married or in a civil partnership were unable to claim the support available at that time to married paren…

Being Propelled into Life

Jan 2023

Lately, I’ve been finding comfort not in religion or spirituality, but from physics. One quote in particular by physicist Brian Cox has been playing heavily on my mind – that inevitably, all forms of …

ITVBe documentary: WAY member Debbie shares her husband’s brain cancer story

Dec 2022

WAY member Debbie, whose husband Steve was diagnosed with the same type of brain cancer as The Wanted singer Tom Parker, says she admires Tom’s widow Kelsey Parker for speaking out so publicly about h…

Sarah’s Story and appearing on ITVBe's 'Life After Tom'

Dec 2022

WAY member Sarah shares her story and why being involved in the "Life After Tom" documentary was important to her.

Sunita's Story: Volunteering for WAY

Dec 2022

As part of International Volunteer Day, WAY volunteer Sunita shares her story with us.

WAY member Hannah features in ITVBe documentary

Nov 2022

On 1 December, Kelsey Parker’s documentary Life After Tom is due to air on ITVBe at 9pm. In the first episode, Kelsey joins a WAY meet up and talks to Kent WAY members Sarah, Hannah and Michael - and …

How grief affects military spouses

Jun 2022

Saturday 25th June marks #armedforcesday and we wanted to share Emma’s story and some of the unique challenges and experiences that can come with being a military widow.

Richard’s story: Photographing grief

May 2022

WAY Widowed and Young member Richard came to our community fun day last week to showcase his new photography project about grief following the loss of a spouse - ‘The One I Chose; The One Who Chose Me…

Marking World Cancer Day

Feb 2022

February 4 is World Cancer Day. To mark this day, we asked WAY members to share photographs of the loved ones they have lost to cancer. We were overwhelmed by responses and received nearly 200 photos,…

WAY member shares advice on online dating

Feb 2019

WAY member Shalini Bhalla-Lucas has written a book about online dating after being widowed. Here she shares some words of wisdom on the challenges of finding love again following bereavement.

You don't have to face widowhood alone.

If you've lost your partner before your 51st birthday and live in the UK – whether you were married or not, with or without children, whatever your sexual orientation, race or religion – you are welcome to join us.

Joining up to WAY takes minutes and costs just £30 a year, which can be paid either by direct debit or PayPal.

“I will always remain a member of WAY as I know that my membership helps WAY to continue to support other members and reach out to new members.

Since WAY has made such a difference to me after being widowed young, I want to do all that I can to help that support continue” - WAY member, Jenny