Kintsugi Heroes
Remeny Armitage · 51 min
After losing her stillborn son James at 26 weeks, Remeny Armitage found her way back to life through community, hope, and the radical act of never forgetting him.
You don't have to be in crisis to call.
At 36, single and hoping to build a family, Remeny Armitage met her husband online and fell in love fast. Within months they were engaged, and after three years of trying and one failed IVF cycle, she became pregnant naturally. The 20-week scan showed a healthy baby boy. They named him James.
At 26 weeks, James stopped moving. The hospital confirmed what Remeny already knew: her son had died. She carried him for three more days before going into labour. The birth was physically brutal, and the midwife's coldness added cruelty to an already unbearable moment. Remeny came home with an empty car seat, fever-sick and shattered. For weeks she couldn't leave the house. She couldn't face the world or the people who, with the best intentions, told her she'd get over it, that James was in God's arms, that she could have another baby. None of it helped. Only other mothers who had lost children understood.
That online community of lost mothers saved her life. Eleven years later, she still calls them FIMPs (Friends in My Pocket). Eleven weeks after James died, Remeny had a dream where she held a nine-month-old baby and heard a voice telling her to get stronger for her future children. She got pregnant that week. Luke was born in October, just before the one-year mark of losing James. Alex followed seventeen months later. Remeny learned that grief doesn't disappear. You get stronger. You learn to carry the weight. Your child stays with you, always part of who you are and who you become. She still marks James's birthday and Christmas. She visits his grave. And she built her whole business around listening to people, because she knows the sacred weight of being truly heard.
⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses grief & loss and suicide & self-harm prevention, which some listeners may find distressing.
If you need support, you're not alone. Help is available: • Lifeline (24/7 crisis support): 13 11 14 · lifeline.org.au • GriefLine: 1300 845 745 · griefline.org.au
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