Great Gifts in Great Tragedy
Greggy's Page
- by Carol Gino
Hopeful Healer / aah-ha! Books / Rashana's Garden / Starwater Press
Author / Nurse's Stories / Contact Us! / Guestbook / Links
In 1984 my grandson Gregory died. He was the most beautiful baby I'd ever seen and
barely four months old when he died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. I'd been a
nurse for almost twenty years at the time, and had prepared myself over the years by
knocking myself out learning and studying everything about medicine and nursing in order
to protect my whole family from any unexpected disasters. I worked in all the best
hospitals, in all the Intensive Care areas. I had gotten very good at diagnosing, very
good at treating, and so I felt confident as I kissed that baby, Greggy, and my
granddaughter, Jessica, goodbye and flew off to spend three months in California in order
to write.
It was very early the next morning and still dark when I heard the ringing of the phone. I
woke to hear the sound of my daughter's voice saying softly, "Mommy, come home.
Greggy's dead."
In that one moment everything I ever was, was obliterated. And from that moment on my
daughter Teri, her husband, Gordon, and my granddaughter Jessica as well as all the rest
of our family, began a journey we never thought we'd have to take.
At some point when we were at our weakest, an Angel came to help us, she said her name
was Janith (from the Angel's Gabriel's group) and she began to help us heal.
The Angel Janith first came to Teri in automatic writings, then after a year of trust and
truth, she asked Teri if she was willing to allow her to speak.
Teri was horrified, afraid, and not at all thrilled by the idea. So at first she refused.
Then as we continued to see the value in Janith's words, in the ways Janith was able to
help and heal us as well as others, Teri agreed.
Over the last ten years both Teri and I have done work with grief and healing. Teri was
President of the Long Island Chapter of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. I went on
to get a Masters Degree in Transpersonal Psychology in order to study states of
consciousness. We wrote articles and we did private seminars and workshops. And Janith
helped give us the words and the concepts to comfort ourselves and others.
Teri grew wiser through her grief and was able to trust enough, be brave enough, to
have two more little girls who were as beautiful as Greggy.
Finally, she listened to what Greggy had told her right after he died, when she heard in a
part of her heart she didn't know could speak, "Mommy, I don't want to hurt you,
I love you. But I have to make room for my brother who needs you more than I."
Five years later Teri and Gordon adopted a boy baby from Romania. A sixteen month old baby
boy with curly dark hair and big brown eyes who had spent his whole life in the confines
of a white metal crib. When Teri first held him, he couldn't eat, he couldn't drink a
bottle, he couldn't speak and he couldn't even crawl because his legs had been tied taught
in front of him in a blanket to keep him warm in the cold, dark, Romanian orphanage. We
called him Tommy, after my father, who died just before that baby arrived.
It's impossible to explain the gifts we've received from the Angel Janith, and yet, not one of us would have chosen to give Greggy back even now, but to understand the reason Greggy died was important to help us heal. It is with that hope for you in my heart that I offer the answers Janith gave to our questions in order that it might also offer you some comfort.
Book! And Then an Angel Came - New Book about Gregory by Carol Gino
Hopeful Healer / aah-ha!
Books / Rashana's Garden / Starwater
Press
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