Annette, a Huntington's disease community member shares her experience of setting up a Much Loved tribute page for her late husband, Paul.
My husband Paul died as a result of Huntington's disease. Our whole lives were turned upside down by this illness which had been hidden by the previous generation as is commonly the case.
This illness affects everything - jobs, children, relationships, money, mental health and future plans are all disrupted in unexpected ways. As you know it doesn't end with a person's death - the fear of it continues in the next generation.
The Huntington's Disease Association charity and those we met through it helped us understand and get stronger when the NHS could not, so naturally we wanted Huntington's Disease Association to benefit from any generosity at Paul's funeral.
We live on an Island so I didn't expect many friends to be able to take time off and travel to the funeral hence decided, at the request of some, to set up a tribute page. I think it helped to have the page ready to take donations in lieu of flowers. It was very easy. So much bureaucratic stuff has to happen before and after a funeral that I almost didn't bother but even when my head was in a spin I managed to find a couple of photos. Others kindly added more photos.
People do like to express their condolences in a practical way. My husband had lived in nursing care for a long time so there wasn't much practical help needed. I hate announcing bad news and find modern communication means one can become inundated with instant messages whilst trying to process what is happening as the sudden reality of death is still very raw. This instant style of communicating makes it hard to respond to everyone's kind messages.
I was overwhelmed by their generosity and messages via the Tribute page. I shared the link via my personal Facebook page when I announced the funeral and also shared it via email and texts. Having the tribute page allowed all the memories to be shared together so this was a positive focus.
Set up a tribute page in memory of a loved one
Your tribute page is an online space where your friends and family can share photos, stories, music and messages in memory of your loved one.
You can use the page to celebrate special moments such as birthdays or anniversaries and as a place to leave messages, and share anecdotes or special memories. You are also able to host events or fundraisers in their memory where funds can be donated directly to their page - helping to keep the memory of them positive and alive.
