‘There’s not enough said about losing siblings’

The sister of a woman who ticked an extensive list of experiences of her bucket list before she died has said there should be more conversation about sibling loss.

Gracie Nuttall’s older sister Laura, from Barrowford in Lancashire, died aged 23 in May 2023, having suffered from an aggressive form of brain cancer for five years.

Ms Nuttall, 23, who works with the Sibling Support Charity, said many people who had lost a brother or sister felt their grief was often overlooked.

“There’s very little dialogue about sibling loss, and that’s what we are trying to change,” she said.

Gracie added: “Your sibling relationship should be the longest relationship of your life, and for a lot of people that loss is unimaginable.

“What do you say to someone in that situation?”

“Even my friends at school didn’t know what to say.

“We need to open up a conversation where people can say, ‘that’s really rubbish you lost your sister’, because that’s better than saying nothing.”

Laura was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive form of brain cancer, following a routine eye test.

She was later found to have eight tumours.

Despite her diagnosis and years of treatment, she went on to work her way through a bucket list.

She met Michelle Obama, commanded a Royal Navy ship, and presented the weather on BBC North West Tonight.

She also graduated from the University of Manchester.

Gracie said working with a charity and having a podcast gave her “the opportunity to speak about your sibling with other people who get it”.

“I’m very lucky that I’m in a situation where I get to speak about Laura a lot, and so many people don’t have that,” she said.

“That person’s just gone, and they can’t speak about them, because nobody asks and part of what we’re trying to do is say, ‘ask someone about their sibling’.

“You’re not going to upset them, it’s nice to be able to speak about them.”