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ABC’s The Conversation Hour: Tae Yoon’s story
May 15, 2025
At Very Special Kids, children’s palliative care extends beyond death, offering families support, comfort and connection after their final goodbye.
During National Palliative Care Week, we had the privilege of exploring the tender, often-unspoken topic of after-death care on ABC’s The Conversation Hour – also acknowledging the moments of light that can be experienced through the darkness.
You can listen to the full conversation here: ABC’s The Conversation Hour, featuring Seol, a very special mum, sharing her deeply personal experience alongside her family support practitioner, Chanelle.
Seol is the mum of 11-year-old Tae Yoon, who had Shwachman–Diamond syndrome. After his death, Seol and her family spent time in our Balam Balam suite, a space designed to give families space to say goodbye in their own way.
“We spent about a week there. It allowed us to be with Tae’s body, to process his death in a way that felt right for us.”
– Seol, mum of 11-year-old Tae Yoon who had Shwachman–Diamond syndrome
For Seol, this experience was profoundly different from the loss of her husband Greg in 2019, when his body was suddenly removed from the hospital, leaving her feeling lost and alone.
I was terrified that the same thing would happen with Tae, but the Balam Balam suite made it a beautiful memory rather than a dark one.
In her moving interview on The Conversation Hour, Seol spoke about the importance of increasing knowledge and death literacy – particularly around after-death care – so more families can find comfort and connection during such heartbreaking times.
Listen to host Richelle Hunt’s heartfelt and open conversation with Seol and her family support practitioner Chanelle here.
