‘Motherless daughters group was a lifeline after my mum died’

I’m Gemma, a BBC News journalist in the North West, and someone whose life changed forever when I lost my mum four years ago.

I was 28-years-old when my mother, Tina, passed away on 19 March 2021, at the age of 53.

She had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2019 but nothing could have prepared me for what it would feel like to lose her.

My mum was my best friend and I’m still getting used to a void that will forever be part of my life now she is no longer there to fill it.

But that’s where Carmella’s group became a lifeline for me.

It was a place where I didn’t feel judged and where I could express my grief, and my thoughts.