The Terrifying Wind

It took only one phone call to change a family's life forever. When twenty-five-year-old Melissa Sullivan arrived at the hospital, she was already in a coma. Several days went by as Judith Sullivan, her husband, and her son and his wife held vigil in the hospital waiting room. Holding on to hope, the family clung to each other and to the friends that stopped by to offer support.


But Melissa would not survive the cardiac arrest.


Judith and her family then went on a journey. They struggled to understand how Melissa could have died. They realized that their family would have to be redefined. And they learned the value of good friends-life supporters-who walked with them on their journey.


The Terrifying Wind: Seeking Shelter Following the Death of a Child is a haunting and honest account of how one family survived such a horrible assault to its psyche.
Anyone who has lost a child or a loved one will find hope at the end of the storm. Anyone who has felt helpless watching a friend struggle to cope with such a loss will find a practical guide on how to become a life supporter to someone whose life has been turned upside down.

And in the end, Judith Sullivan gives the reader hope that there is a way to go on. There is a way to find shelter.


"This is a powerful book about the senseless, devastating loss caused by eating disorders. It is a compelling story about a family's pain and how their grief has reformed their lives and their community. Through the support of family, friends, and therapy, they rebuild their forever-changed lives. It is a must read for people dealing with eating disorders and anyone who has lost someone close."
-Dirk Miller, Ph.D., Founder and Executive Director of The Emily Program

"This moving account of the sudden cardiac arrest death of a beloved daughter-young, lovely and accomplished-is a study of the harrowing disorientation of loss. Judith Sullivan's fearless documentary of her family's experience is remarkable, gripping and immediate. Part memoir, part medical investigation and-unique to the literature of grief-a gallery of clear-eyed portraits of friends who steadfastly supported her in the spiral of unspeakable grief. Too often accounts of loss make it seem that healing happens alone, in the secrecy of the heart. Maybe. But this book makes the more profound-and infinitely more useful-point: it may take a village to raise a child, but it takes an even more loving one to sustain a mother's loss of that beloved child."
-Patricia Hampl, Ph.D., recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, author of numerous award-winning books, most recently The Florist's Daughter

"What a profound, searing, and beautifully written book. If you've lost a child, you will sense that Judith Sullivan is a trustworthy guide who waited just enough years to write her story. If your loved one has lost a child, you will learn about offering sensitive and steadfast support. I was riveted and inspired from beginning to end."
-William J. Doherty, Ph.D., Professor of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota and author of Take Back Your Marriage: Sticking Together in a World That Pulls Us Apart