Getting through GRIEF

‘WEIGHTLIFTING WAS MY ONLY RESPITE’

Natalie Weaving, 38, co-owns a marketing agency and lives in Basingstoke, Hampshire, with her son Alfie, eight.

Sweating as I lifted a heavy weight in the gym, all I could think about was the burning feeling coursing through my arms. Then, as I put the weight down, satisfaction washed over me. The truth was my mum, Debbie, was dying of cancer and the endorphins I got weightlifting was my only respite from the mental pain.

Generous, kind and funny, Mum was my best friend. When I was little, she was always there to take me to netball or ice skating, and as I grew up, we got