A woman from Barrowford has launched a podcast today (July 9) about grief and sibling loss, after her sister died of cancer.
Gracie Nuttall, 22, has launched The Dead Sibling Society podcast with Callum Fairhurst, both of whom have experienced sibling loss.
According to Gracie, support and services to help people cope with sibling loss are limited. She hopes by sharing her story, and hearing from others, people who are grieving will find comfort and support through the podcast.
Listeners have been told to expect ‘laughter and the occasional tear’.
Gracie said: “My sister had a very twisted sense of humour, and so do me and Callum now, so we [wanted to show that through our title].
“The first two episodes talk about our story and they are quite emotional and we go into quite a lot of detail.
“Myself and Callum try and see things in a positive light. Our way of coping is with slightly ‘twisted’ and dark humour.
“There is a lot of laughter in it too as we are not serious people and I’ve been told some episodes are quite funny.”
Gracie said she was inspired to make a podcast after reading messages from people who had also lost a sibling, after posting a TikTok video about her experience, which has since received 28 million views.
Gracie said: “My parents are incredible but didn’t experience [grief] from a sibling perspective the same way I didn’t experience it from a parents’ perspective.
“As a society, we don’t speak enough about sibling loss so I didn’t realise how on my own I felt.”
Gracie says there is not enough support for those who have experienced sibling loss.
She said: “Nobody ever really spoke to me about it or said how it would feel for me.
"There was such a gap in the support for siblings.
“The idea is to create [a community of support] through the podcast because there is no support out there.
“Sibling death will touch so many people in their lives and it seems daft we don’t have the support and outlets for sibling deaths.
“When you grow up with a sibling you are ‘promised forever’ with them, in a way. You expect to lose your parents and that’s the order of things. With your siblings, you expect to be with them [until you are much older]. When they die it feels like you have been robbed. You grieve yourself as well as them.
“That is something I didn’t know how to articulate until I met Callum and we started speaking.”
In one of the episodes, which is set to be released in the coming weeks, Gracie and Callum spoke to Made in Chelsea star, Spencer Matthews, whose brother died climbing Mount Everest in 1999.
The duo also spoke with Sarah Brown, wife of Gordon Brown, who spoke about the death of her 10-day-old daughter.
Gracie thinks Laura would be proud of her for making the podcast.
She said: “I think she would be proud but would probably roll her eyes at me and say ‘you could always talk, you’.
“Everything down to Laura’s core being was about helping other people even when it was the last thing she wanted to do.
“[Even after she has died] she continues to make a difference because I wouldn’t be doing this without Laura.”
Callum and Gracie are appealing for sponsors to support the podcast. Anyone interested can email: thedeadsiblingsociety@gmail.com.
The Dead Sibling Society episodes will be published every two weeks on every major podcast streaming platform. Episodes can also be watched on YouTube.
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