In this blog, I'm sharing a, mother daughter, journey that goes beyond life. into the afterlife. Susan Young Oskey author of The Scent of Roses talk about the unbreakable bond between her daughter and herself and how this bond transcended death into the afterlife. Susan's goal is to encourage mothers who lost daughters to know that there is, life after death. She shares thoughts on the afterlife and why the love between a mother and daughter is eternal.
If you're interested in hearing more about Susan's journey, or want to share your own thoughts on life after death, please feel free to leave a comment below!
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The effects of mental illness on teenagers
Susan Young Oskey had a happy childhood thanks to her loving and nurturing parents spending her teenage years being bullied and battling anxiety and depression. Susan found her calling as a teacher, she is a retired Elementary School teacher with an M.A degree from Stony Brook University. She enjoys traveling and spending time with her family. After marrying Christopher she welcomed her baby girl Brittany and the following years were easily the best years of her life.
However things took took a tragic turn when her beloved daughter was taken from her. Soon after losing Brittany in a tragic accident, Susan's life would have stopped if she hadn't discovered resources that helped bereaved parents like her find solace. Since then Susan with the help of her family and friends in some ways to talk to Brittany who loves communicating with her mama, she's thrilled to be sharing her life experience with the Afterlife with those who are grieving over the loss of a loved one.
Myrna: Susan can it you share your incredible story of a mother-daughter bond that that transcended death.
Susan: Brittany was a joy to us, we were thrilled when she was born because I had a late miscarriage before her and then we struggle to get pregnant again. She had a unique personality from a young age, she never held back what she was feeling. She was very sassy, and very loving. In her early teen years that her personality started to change a little bit and that's really where the story begins with her.
She started having, mental health, issues when she was around 12 or 13 years old. I noticed the problems the anxiety, depression and just the lack of confidence. Something that she always had when she was young and she didn't have it anymore, her confidence was just gone. I immediately got her into therapy and all through high school we worked on that. It wasn't until a couple of psychiatrists gave her medications for her anxiety that we had we started to have some difficulties.
They kept changing her meds and as she went into the College Years, her anxiety wasn't getting any better, as a matter of fact it was getting worse. She got into a great University she got into a Stony Brook University and we were just thrilled, but by that time it was her junior year in college she had given up on herself. She stopped doing her homework, she stopped socializing she was depressed all the time and and the anxiety was through the roof.
Brittany's tried to relieve her pain with methadone and it killed her
She went to a friend's house one night in February of 2018, she had a lot of pain because she had an infection and she only had antibiotics for the infection, nothing for pain and her friend told her that she had a bottle of methadone that would help with the pain. So unknowingly my daughter took it because she just wanted to be relieved of the pain and it turned out to be fatal.
Myrna: Oh my goodness, so that's mixing the drugs. I'm assuming because for those that doesn't know what methadone is, it is the drug that they give you when you're getting off of heroin isn't it?
Susan: Yes, it used to be used for pain relief as well.
Myrna: I am so sorry. I grieve for your for your pain. Let's unpack it a little bit. Can you share what Brittany's, mental illness, was diagnosed with? Was it bipolar, was it just depression?
Susan: It was bipolar depression and anxiety, so they were trying to treat those issues with the medication but she got worse and worse. She had just turned 21 and the accident happened just 10 days after her 21st birthday.
Myrna: Oh my gosh, it's still fresh because you said 2018 so five years ago. Wow my heart bleeds for you. I was just watching the biography of Anna Nicole and her son and almost the same thing happened to them. Mixing drugs these days is pretty dangerous.
A mother daughter bond in the afterlife
Myrna: I can't say enough how sorry I am for your pain. So tell us what happened after her death that transcended into her communicating with you?
Susan: Well I always had visits from family members through my dreams and at the beginning, I thought they're just dreams but it turned out they started giving me messages. My uncle came to tell me to stop smoking, he had died from lung cancer. A cousin that had taken his life came to me in a dream and told me I'm okay now, please tell the family that I'm okay.
I was very open to communicating with my daughter. Of course the weeks that followed her death were traumatic, we were in shock and disbelief. This was beyond any pain that I have ever experienced in my life. I mean I've never felt such pain before and I think anybody that's a parent could definitely understand. I couldn't believe she left so young at the age of just turning 21 she was barely legal.
So soon after my daughter's death, I started smelling very strong scent of roses. At first I thought this has got to be an air freshener, but there's no air freshener plugged in. It didn't matter where I went, I was visiting my sister down in Florida and it happened there. It happened when I was driving my car to meet friends and I'm like at that point I said no no this is real this is really happening.
Myrna: Let me jump for a minute. Why roses was that one of her favorite flowers?
Scent of roses: communication from the afterlife
Susan: Roses were her favorite flowers and she would keep the roses in her room even after they died, so I I knew right away that's what she was doing for me. Then I started having the dream visits from her and she was showing me herself and how she looked. It was amazing, she told me that she was okay. Even my husband who never ever had any dream visits from anyone before, got one from her and I was just amazed that she got through to him.
I asked him what did what did she look like and he said she's wearing one of those plaid shirts that she always wore and she was with a friend and she said Dad I'm okay and he said to her I've been looking for you lamb. He used to call her lamb and and she said I'm okay now. My husband never believed in the afterlife at all, he didn't have any kind of beliefs but he does now.
Myrna: Did you ever talk to Brittany other than in dreams? Did you ever go to a medium?
Susan: Yes I have, many came through with validations of things that happened to me when I was a child, things that she could not possibly know. The medium said to me she's telling me that when you were a little girl your father almost drowned in the pool.
Myrna: For those of you listening, I'll link out to it this past episode, it just gives collaboration to this story. In a past episode called http://blog.myhelps.us/is-there-life-after-death-mothers-story/ A mother and her son again was having some issues, he was 28. and he went to a party and a friend gave him heroin and even though she said he was six foot six or something a big guy that one dose was fatal. She was devastated, she had some Clairvoyant ability in her from the past and she kept feeling her son around her.
She it was like a bird fluttering and then she decided to go to a medium and they started communicating and she became a Shaman and and now she helps other spirits communicate with loved ones. So why do you think that Brittany started showing up with the the, Scent of Roses? Do you think she came back because of the, mother daughter bond, transcended into the afterlife?
A mother daughter bond in the afterlife
Susan: the bond between a mother and daughter that transcends debt do you think that she came back um because of that Bond she came back because she had a message for you what why do you think it happened we were very close as mother and daughter we went beyond the usual mother-daughter relationship we would travel all the time just the two of us we would do everything together you know as she got older into adulthood you know she was my best friend.
I mean that's what we were and she was the type of young adult that would share with me things that other parents probably didn't want to hear but she felt comfortable enough, so I feel that she wanted to let me know that bond has not been broken.
It was okay for me to get communication from the afterlife because I've had it before. She was able to come to me a lot easier.
Myrna: Brittany must have been a very powerful spirit because one of the things that I've learned from having several conversations about, life after death, is that the reason that we don't see Spirit all the time even though they're all over, is because they're at a different frequency. In order for them to come into our experience, they either have to know how to lower their frequency or we have to know how to raise ours.
Susan: That's exactly what I was told. Brittany was able to lower her vibration and because I am an empath too and I'm a sensitive, if I really concentrate I can make mine higher as well.
Myrna: Tell us why was it important for you to write about your daughter's story in the book Scent of Roses?
Susan: I wanted to share her story and I shared a little bit of my story, I wanted to bring to the light the, mental illness, problem that we do have here and I also wanted to share my experiences with the afterlife to give people a little bit of hope. I know I have helped some people, I'm not saying everyone, but people have told me they're not afraid of death anymore.
I joined a group called Helping Parents Heal and parents are communicating with their kids in the afterlife.
Mental Illness causes families a lot of pain
Brittany did not get any help to relieve the symptoms of her mental illness. I really don't think the drugs they gave her were helping. I have nothing but bad experiences from them, her mental illness was real but there's kind of be a better way to treat it than just loading them up on drugs that didn't work.
Myrna: It's great that you're helping someone that's grieving about a loss of a child or a spouse or a loved one to know that the afterlife is there. You're also highlighting the issue with, mental illness drugs, they're not doing anything to help manage the illness.
Tell us about your book why should someone go ahead and get the book
Susan: I think a lot of people can relate to the mental health issue because there are a lot of people out there. I also talked about bullying people not being nice to one another and all things that Britney stood for. Also the healing comes from knowing that you're going to hear from them, you're going to see them again at some point. In the beginning after her death she practically threw herself in front of me to say Mom I'm here.
I truly believe that if people knew the truth about the afterlife that they wouldn't be so fearful.
Myrna: Where can our listeners pick up a copy of your book, if you're on social media what are your social media handles. What do you want them to walk away with after reading the book?
Susan: I want them to walk away with a sense of peace and calmness. I also want them to know they're not alone with all the struggles that we go through in life and I want to give them hope that life's gonna continue on. My book is on Amazon it's also um on my website www.thescentofroses.com
and my Instagram account is @Brittanyscentofroses
