Hello Shellon -

I am so sorry for your loss of Aliyah. She must have been such a
fighter. I hope that Zuri is doing well.

My identical twin daughters were born at 23 weeks on December 6, 2004,
from complications from Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome. My first-
born, Brooke, passed away after only a few minutes. Alexis somehow
managed to survive, and is now a healthy 3-year old.

It is unspeakably difficult to lose a child, especially after such a
long fight that Aliyah had, especially when you have another newborn to
raise, both preemies, and Cyann, too. Such a blessing, and so
incredibly painful at the same time. The best advice I can give you is
to get help. Get help taking care of the kids, get help taking care of
you, go to support groups, talk to people, spend time by yourself,
whatever you need. Accept any and all offers of help.

Also, there are a couple other support groups I wanted to let you know
about. CLIMB is the Center for Loss in Multiple Birth. They have a
website www.climb-support.org, and a quarterly newsletter with lots of
personal insights. There is a message board on the site, but it's not
very active. There is another message board called eLIMBO, which is a
yahoo group for people who have experienced a loss in multiple birth.
The link is http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/eLIMBO/. SHARE
Atlanta has been an amazing resource for me for dealing with the loss
of Brooke, and CLIMB and eLIMBO have been helpful components for me in
dealing with the special twin issues.

I hope you find all the support you need. Take care,
Diane Overton
Mom to Brooke (b./d. 12/6/2004) and Alexis (b. 12/6/2004) and Julia (b.
2/14/2007)