Supporting those impacted by
medical complexity & traumatic grief
Founded by parents who have walked the life and loss of a medically complex child, The Coco Project exists to replace isolation, redefine support, and restore hope for those navigating medical complexity and traumatic grief. Through programs like Turtle Tracks and the Buddies Box, we leave compassionate markers that ripple through lives.
What Medical Complexity & Traumatic Grief look like.
Grief has a way of entering our lives quietly and staying longer than we expect. It shows up in loss, in change, in all the things we thought would be different. For families in the medically complex community, grief is not a single moment—it is a constant companion. It lives in hospital rooms, in the unknowns, in the love that carries both joy and ache at the same time.
Grief exists in what is, what was, what is still unfolding, and what will never be.
WHAT DOES “MEDICALLY COMPLEX” MEAN?
Medically complex individuals, typically children, live with serious, often life-threatening conditions that require ongoing, specialized care.
This can include: Multiple, chronic diagnoses, dependence on medical technology (feeding tubes, ventilators, oxygen), frequent hospitalizations and surgeries, and care from multiple specialists. For families, this means caregiving is constant, decisions are high-stakes, and uncertainty is part of daily life.
Medical complexity doesn’t just affect a child—it reshapes an entire family’s world.
TRAUMATIC GRIEF IN THIS COMMUNITY
For families impacted by medical complexity, grief is often:
Anticipatory — living with the fear of what may come
Compounded — shaped by repeated crises and trauma
Profound — especially when a child’s life ends after prolonged illness
This is known as traumatic grief—and it requires specialized, trauma-informed support.
BY THE NUMBERS
3+ million children in the U.S. live with medical complexity or significant special health care needs.
These children account for a disproportionate share of hospital and ICU care.
1 in 5 bereaved parents experience prolonged or complicated grief.
Parents who lose a child after complex illness face significantly higher risks of PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
Tens of thousands of families each year lose a child—many after long, medically complex journeys.
This is not rare.
It is under-recognized.
And deeply underserved.
Families like these are too often left to navigate trauma and grief alone; we’re here to change that. The Coco Project creates space for healing—through trauma-informed connection, community involvement, and specialized support designed specifically for families impacted by medical complexity and loss.
Here, families are seen.
Here, their experiences are understood.
Here, healing can begin.