For Lauren Smith, the grief of losing her soulmate was almost impossible to endure.
“Grief is a rollercoaster. It’s not linear, it’s big, but it’s big because (the) love was big,” she told 7NEWS.
Smith and her husband Jake were childhood sweethearts in Toowoomba and were looking forward to their life together when they married in 2018.
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Six months later their world was turned upside-down when Jake was diagnosed with stage-four lymphoma. He passed away in October 2019.
Now Smith has used her experience of grief to help others navigate their own hardship.
Smith said her husband was a “people person” who had “ a very big heart for people”.
“He always wanted to see people be the best version of themselves,” she said.
After the loss of her husband, Smith was looking for a way to honour Jake’s legacy and use their experience to help others.
“There’s a special place in grief where it can be channelled to make a difference,” she said.
Smith partnered with the charity Gather My Crew to create an app that aims to help people going through hardships to ask for assistance.
She says the app was designed to help those experiencing hardship to request a task, but it is also a valuable tool for people from the community to respond to requests or offer their services.
“One of the features of the app is practical help,” she said.
“Whether that be that you need meals cooked or the grass mowed, someone to pick up a prescription or drop the kids to school”.
The app quickly struck a chord with users and has been downloaded by over 400,000 people in the last six years.
“I am terrible at asking for help, as most of us are,” she said.
“We were blessed to have lots of people around us who offered help and wanted to help, but we probably didn’t feel equipped to bridge the gap between the two.”
State MP for Toowoomba South David Janetzki said the app could help bridge that gap for those in need,
“This app can help bridge the gap between those who desperately need help and those who are willing to offer it,” he said.
“It can transform how people ask, offer and receive help in their moment of need.”
After the loss of her husband, Smith says she is “trying to make the most of life”.
“In some way it’s an honour to grieve,” she said.
“(I am) trying to make the most of life, life is short.
“Nobody is immune from life’s challenges, we all know people who are facing really hard things”.
“Go easy on yourself”.
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