Death is a taboo subject in our society, especially when it affects children or young people. This has many repercussions. Some are more symbolic, such as the fact that there isn't a word to describe someone who has lost a son or daughter—there are words for someone who loses a partner or a child who loses a parent. Others have a greater impact on the daily lives of those affected. For example, when a person loses a son or daughter, they can take two days of leave from work. The same number of days as leave for moving and far fewer than the 15 days of leave for a wedding. Another reflection is the limited support that families grieving the death of a child receive from the public system. Mireia Rosés lost her six-year-old son, Jan, in June 2024. She recalls that at the Parc Taulí Hospital in Sabadell, where he died, a child psychologist saw her and her husband a couple of times, but couldn't provide follow-up care. At their local primary care center (CAP) in Terrassa, they weren't given an appointment until October, and they only had two half-hour visits with the psychologist. Fortunately, that same month they received a call from the bereavement support team at the pediatric palliative care unit of Vall d'Hebron Hospital in Barcelona. They were invited to participate in a support group for families who had suffered the same loss, and after the first session, they were also offered individual support. For the past year, Mireia, her husband, and their five-year-old daughter have been attending individual sessions and, in the case of the girl, group sessions for couples, families, and siblings. "It has saved my life." Mireia is quite emphatic when she talks about what this support has given her. "You feel alone, you feel like you can't talk to anyone because, despite having many people who want to support you and who do, they can't understand you because they haven't been through the same thing. Until you find someone who has experienced it, you feel misunderstood," she says. She affirms that participating in these groups and in individual sessions with the team's professionals has helped her understand that she must move forward and that she can. "And it has helped my daughter realize that she's not the only child in the world who has lost a sibling, that there are other girls and boys in the same situation, and that she can share it," she adds.

"I would like to spend more time with you, but I need to rest." These were the last words Pau Verdaguer spoke just hours before his death on September 17, 2024, at the age of 20. The young man suffered from an autoimmune disease since birth, congenital erythroblastopenia or Blackfan-Diamond disease, which prevented him from producing red blood cells. He was diagnosed at birth, on January 5. Pau arrived like a true Three Kings' Day gift. The icing on the cake of a close-knit family made up of his parents, Cristina and Sergi, and his siblings, Adriana, Miquel, and Albert, who at the time were 10, 11, and 14 years old, respectively.