P
Pamm
Guest
Please pray that I may know how to handle this terrible situation I am facing: a former employee of mine and very dear friend has been suffering with a disfunctional family for over a decade. Her parents divorced while she was in college and she had two junior high aged siblings still at home. Her father left the family and her mother basically had a break down and was unable to care for the younger siblings. My friend, who was in her early 20s at the time, did her best to help her mother with the siblings but they had many problems and still do as young adults. About a month ago, I learned from my daughter who works with her younger sister, that my friend’s youngest sibling was diagnosed with brain cancer (his second bout). The family is broken and although my friend has tried many times to keep connected with her siblings, they avoid her. Sadly, they have hidden the brother’s cancer and he passed away about a week ago. I am fairly sure my friend does not know her brother died. They had a private funeral and did not run anything in the newspaper. Since my daughter shared this with me in confidence, I am deeply troubled because I feel as though I need to call my friend but I don’t want to 1) intrude on their family crises and 2) don’t want to break a confidence with my daughter. I have been praying about this and cannot come to a way to solve the problem. I am frustrated with my friend’s family for hurting her in this way but I am also extremely concerned that she still may not know about the death. I have not seen my friend for about two months (I recently left the company where I was her manager). My friend has always loved her family but has been hurt many times because they blame her for moving on with her life – ie she got married, had a child and has forgiven her father. She has had one little boy but has lost a set of twins and a single birth in miscarriages since she had her little boy. Her family never seems to be there for her. I know she loves them in spite of how they have treated her and she was concerned about her brother. She knew he was not completely healthy, but she had no idea he was told her had terminal cancer. I don’t know what to do and I need your prayers and guidance if you can give any. Thank you.