Here is Harry’s story, in his own words:

Grief was a foreign concept to me up until that point — even though I had lost 3 elder family members, I was so caught up in Charlie’s illness and health that I didn’t get the chance to grieve those losses. Until Charlie passed, and I was hit with four different grieving periods all at once. Life was hard. I had lost all purpose, all sense of safety, and felt very lonely despite my supportive partner Grace being by my side every step of the way, along with my family grieving with me.

I have spent many hours with my psychologist working through grief, finding out what it means and how I deal with it — a very long and expensive process that I would recommend for everyone.

When Charlie passed, I took 3 months off from work to navigate my new life without my only sibling.

Initially my workplace, a health service who pride themselves on helping people with mental health issues, were supportive and allowed me to take the 3 months off, then allowed a slow return to work so I could work 20 hours a week whilst recovering.

My goal was to return to full-time work; however, this goal was cut short when they fired me, stating they were unable to facilitate my slow return to work anymore. I thought something was wrong with me because I couldn’t get over my grief.

It wasn’t until I investigated grief more and realised it’s not a 5-minute process that I understood. I realised that grief literacy is generally sub-par and there is a big knowledge gap on grief, despite every person experiencing it in some form or another.

On reflection — what I needed most was empathy and understanding. Grief isn’t linear, it doesn’t follow a normal process, it’s not predictable. I didn’t recover from grief overnight; it’s a slow process that takes time.

I have used physical exercise as a means of recovery and have turned the pain of my grief into a purpose — raising money for brain cancer research by running the Sydney Marathon this month.