All of us face challenges, whether in our personal or professional lives, and finding beauty at these times is at the crux of getting through them, according to inspirational speaker Rachel Callander.
Rachel is being brought to the city by Waipuna Hospice to talk about her personal experience of grief, of how she and her husband dealt with the long-term illness and death of their 2-year old daughter Evie.
While she will never discount the pain of living through such enormous grief, she says what she realised, through Evie, is that grief and death are part of the fullness of life.
"The way that we process grief affects the way you live your life. Hopefully, people will feel like I'm not discounting the hurt when I say, it is beautiful and it is possible to get through the pain."
She says, during Evie's illness, a medical risk assessment summarised a catalogue of "wrong" in Evie. It was this catalogue that inspired a change in Rachel's attitude. She was determined her daughter was not going to be dismissed and categorised as a failure.
