Stephen Dixon, Caregiver To His Late Wife, Talks About Surviving Grief & Loss

Join Dave Nassaney, The Caregiver's Caregiver, and his guest, Stephen Dixon, Caregiver to his late wife of 33 years, Brenda, who died of stage 4 breast cancer just 8 months ago. Steve is very strong in his faith, and this has helped him to go through the grief process quicker than most who have suffered such a loss. In his words, "I remember clearly being strong to communicate the seriousness of Brenda's condition with our semi adult children and then two days later crying to God as I drove home from a concert because I did not want to lose my Brenda! We enjoyed many good days along with some not so good days as she underwent first radiation and hormone therapy, then chemo therapy to deal with the disease. Fast forward to one year ago this fall - September, 2013 and I received quite a shock when I was let go from my work of 32 years simply due to "re-organizing", but in the providence of God I was then able to stay home with my bride for the last six months of her life. Brenda died on March 11, 2014 at Holy Cross hospital.

During those last six months I enjoyed three months of life with her as husband and friend, and then became caregiver husband for the last three months of her life.  God gave me great grace to deal with my great loss as I went and stayed with her every day at the hospital, and then was her sole caregiver for three days at home and then closing out her time on earth the last 6 days at the hospital. These were difficult days - but we were encouraged by God's word - by the prayers of many, many Christians and by flowers, cards, and visits of our close friends.

Dave Nassaney is the author of numerous articles and books, speaker, life coach, and radio talk-show host for caregivers who are burned out, but his most important role is being a caregiver to his lovely wife, Charlene. His latest book that he is now working on is entitled: The Caregiver's Caregiver, Avoiding Burnout.