When Danny Sinagra lost his wife Maria, his world seemed to stop. “There was no way I was going to get any pets. No way I was going to volunteer. I wasn’t even getting out of bed to check the mail,” he recalls. “I was lost.”

After Maria’s passing, Danny felt frozen in time—his house filled with reminders of her, from her jewelry and purses to the TV shows they used to watch together. “People said, ‘get rid of it,’” Danny says, shaking his head. “But I’m keeping everything the way it is. I still sleep in the same bed. I still watch the same crappy TV shows, and I talk to her picture about what’s happening. It makes me feel closer to her.”

It wasn’t until he connected with Carefor Hospice Cornwall’s Grief and Bereavement Services that Danny began to find a way forward. Shannon Ball, a Family & Patient Support Counsellor with the hospice, met him early in his journey. “Right from the beginning, Danny was open to trying support,” she says. “He came to one-on-one sessions and group meetings. That openness, just being willing to show up, is one of the biggest factors in healing.”

At his first meeting with Shannon, she handed him a small smooth stone that read Hope. “That rock changed everything,” Danny says softly. “I took it home, and from that one rock, I started collecting others, a jasper that says Faith, a tiger’s eye from my sister, and an amethyst, Maria’s favourite colour.” Those stones became part of a small shrine he built for Maria, a place of comfort and reflection.

“It’s all about touch,” Shannon explains. “Grief can be overwhelming, and something as simple as a grounding stone helps keep people present. The word hope reminds them that healing is still possible.”

For Danny, it took time and community. Through Carefor’s group sessions, he found a space where he could talk openly about Maria, his regrets, and his slow steps forward. “At first, I didn’t see it getting better,” he admits. “But every week, people would say, ‘It’s going to get better, Danny.’ And one day, it did.”

Carefor Hospice Cornwall offers both one-on-one counselling and group sessions—some open, some closed six-week programs that explore grief through conversation and education. In those groups, laughter and tears often coexist. “It sounds strange,” Danny says with a smile, “but we actually laugh a lot. You cry, you laugh, you share. It’s comforting.”

Shannon agrees. “People think a bereavement group is just sadness, but it’s also about rediscovering connection,” she says. “You can move forward without forgetting. You can carry your person with you while learning to live again.”

Slowly, Danny began doing just that. He started volunteering, driving for Meals on Wheels and helping at the Agape Centre’s tax clinic. “I love it,” he says proudly. “At first, I thought, ‘Why bother?’ But now I look forward to it. I feel useful again.”

The friendships he’s made through the hospice have also become a lifeline. “We still meet once a month for dinner, even after our six-week group ended,” he says. “We keep in touch. We help each other out—sometimes it’s about grief, sometimes it’s just about who can shovel your driveway or fix your lawn mower.”

That sense of connection, of shared experience, is at the heart of what Carefor Hospice Cornwall’s Grief and Bereavement Services offers. “Some people aren’t ready to talk,” Shannon says. “But just showing up, being in a room where others understand—it’s a start. Grieving is personal, but it doesn’t have to be lonely.”

For Danny, that’s been the biggest lesson. “I used to think healing meant forgetting. But now I know I can move forward with Maria, not without her,” he says. “I talk to her picture, I watch our shows, I volunteer. I still miss her, but I’m okay. I’m really okay.”

He glances at the small purple amethyst that sits beside Maria’s candle. “That first rock Shannon gave me said Hope. At the time, I didn’t believe it. But now? Yeah. There’s hope.”

To learn more about or to access Carefor Hospice Cornwall’s grief and bereavement services call 613-938-2763 or visit https://carefor.ca/programs/bereavement-grief-support-groups/