All suffering is bearable if it is seen as part of a story.
– Isak Dinesen
Hundreds of thousands of mothers raise children while coping with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Many caring people want to help but don’t know how.
From 1995-2005, Mothers’ Living Stories, (MLS), a San Francisco Bay Area-based nonprofit project, listened to ill mothers and developed services and resources to support them. Primarily, MLS brought mothers together with community volunteers in a process that was healing to both. Trained in the sacred arts of deep listening, being present with illness and dying, and guided autobiography and storytelling, Volunteer Listeners helped mothers review their lives and record their stories and ethical wills. These living legacies fostered communication within the family and helped mothers and their children hold each other in life and after death.
As a result of the economic downturn, the Project’s blessed and beautiful life as a nonprofit came to an end in 2006. Our legacy continues through the publication of Another Morning, training and consultation, and this web site, which exists to share some of what we learned over the years. Whether you’re a parent living with illness or a professional, family member or friend who cares about a parent who is ill, we hope that you will find valuable ideas and information in these pages. Please note that for some time we have not been able to update specific resources and links in the Resources Section.
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