The Stories We Carry: Dr. Rebecca N. Thompson on Motherhood, Loss, and Healing

Moving stories are one of the most powerful ways we can uplift and strengthen single-mother communities. Data and statistics can tell us how many women are raising children alone, navigating loss, or rebuilding their lives after unimaginable hardship. But stories help us understand reality and what those experiences actually feel like. They create connections where there is isolation and remind mothers that they are not walking their journeys alone. That is why conversations like this one matter.

When I spoke with Dr. Rebecca N. Thompson, a physician, author, and mother, I was struck not only by her compassion but by her deep belief in the healing power of storytelling. This is the same mission as the For Her, By Us platform: using powerful stories to support, uplift, and connect single mothers. Her book, Held Together, is more than a memoir. It is a collection of voices: her own alongside the stories of twenty-one women, including patients, colleagues, friends, and mothers whose lives have been shaped by grief, resilience, love, and unexpected paths to family.

Dr. Thompson's journey toward writing the book began during one of the most difficult periods of her life. As a young physician completing her medical training, she and her husband endured a series of devastating pregnancy losses and medical complications. What made the experience even harder was the silence surrounding it.

"It was so isolating," she told me. "People didn't know how to talk about it. I didn't know how to talk about it."

Like many women navigating grief, she felt as though her story did not fit society's expected narrative. Yet something remarkable happened when she slowly began opening up about her experiences. Other women started sharing their stories in return.

"Once I started finding my way through it and opening up a little bit, so many people around me started feeling comfortable offering their stories back."

Those conversations became the foundation for a project that would take more than a decade to complete. Rather than writing a traditional medical memoir focused solely on her own experiences, Dr. Thompson wanted something different. She wanted the women she met along the way to tell their own stories.

"I didn't feel like there was enough perspective from the patient," she explained. "I wanted to capture those voices." The result is a deeply human portrayal of motherhood in all its forms. Within the pages are women who became single mothers after losing spouses, women navigating divorce, women raising children without support from biological fathers, and women who found themselves parenting alone despite being in relationships. Their circumstances differ, but their stories share common threads of courage, adaptation, and resilience.

One story that particularly resonated with me was about a woman who was suddenly widowed in her thirties after her husband unexpectedly died, leaving her to raise their young son alone. It reminded me of my own mother’s journey, and I couldn’t help but immediately recognize (and admire) the strength required to carry forward after such a profound loss.

Yet Dr. Thompson is careful not to frame these stories through a lens of pity. "I think pity is about misunderstanding," she said. "People don't understand the nuance and complexity of that experience."

That perspective felt especially important. Too often, society views grieving mothers or single mothers as people to feel sorry for. What is frequently overlooked is their resilience-the extraordinary ways they continue showing up for their children, rebuilding their lives, and creating meaning from experiences they never would have chosen.

Throughout our conversation, Dr. Thompson returned to the idea that healing does not come from pretending hardships never happened. Instead, it comes from allowing ourselves to tell the truth about them.

"Difficult stories don't have to be sad stories," she said. The women in Held Together do not find easy answers. Their losses remain real. Their struggles are not erased. But through sharing their experiences, many discovered something unexpected: community. For Dr. Thompson, one of the book's greatest lessons is that meaningful connection often begins when we stop hiding our imperfections.

"Talking about uncomfortable things can really bring us comfort when we feel isolated." That message carries special significance for single mothers. So many are expected to be strong at all times, to carry grief privately, and to move forward without acknowledging the weight they bear. Yet healing often starts when someone finally says, "I understand."

As our conversation came to a close, I asked Dr. Thompson what she would say to a mother currently in the midst of grief, struggling to see a way forward. Her answer was simple. "It won't always be this way."

Then she offered a message that stayed with me long after our interview ended: the hardships we survive today may one day allow us to show up for someone else when they need it most.

For the mothers featured in Held Together, and for countless single mothers everywhere, that may be one of the greatest acts of courage - not simply enduring hardship, but transforming pain into compassion, purpose, and hope for others.