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🇮🇸 Iceland /Culture & Society

Parents Share Grief After Son's Death in Iceland

From Morgunblaðið · () Icelandic

Translated from Icelandic, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified Outcome reported
  • A young child died in Iceland after a brief illness, leaving his parents to make the difficult decision to remove him from life support.
  • The parents are sharing their story to help others navigate grief and to encourage people to listen rather than offer unsolicited advice.
  • The family is grieving the loss of their 1.5-year-old son, Eyþór Elmar Pétursson, who died from complications following a fever and heart attack.

The silence in the Breiðholt home is now deafening. For Berglind Ólafsdóttir and Pétur Guðnason, life has irrevocably changed since their 1.5-year-old son, Eyþór Elmar Pétursson, died on January 14.

Just five days prior, Eyþór Elmar developed a high fever, leading to seizures. While he had experienced febrile seizures before, this time proved fatal. His heart stopped during a seizure, and although resuscitation efforts were successful, too much time had passed. The resulting oxygen deprivation caused severe brain damage.

The doctors informed us that it was actually not possible to continue. The brain damage was so severe that he could not live with any dignity.

— Pétur GuðnasonPétur Guðnason, the father, describes the medical assessment that led to the decision to remove life support.

Doctors informed the parents that continuing life support was not viable. They explained that the brain damage was too extensive for Eyþór Elmar to live with any quality of life. Berglind and Pétur faced the unimaginable decision to disconnect their son from the ventilator.

Now, at home, the parents find unsolicited advice about their grief particularly difficult. They express a greater need for people to simply listen. Their home, once filled with the vibrancy of a young child, is now a place of profound quiet and sorrow.

We will never get him back to us.

— Berglind ÓlafsdóttirBerglind Ólafsdóttir, the mother, expresses the finality of their loss.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Morgunblaðið in Icelandic. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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