From the United States to the United Kingdom: Hope, Blended Family Social Support, and Computer-Mediated Communication Amidst Chronic Illness

This Defining Moments essay contributes to health communication scholarship regarding the role of religion/spirituality as a coping strategy during severe illness and the realities of providing social support in blended families. It also invites readers to reconsider the capacities and constraints of utilizing technology-mediated communication to provide support within close familial relationships. Finally, this narrative acknowledges the messiness of providing support in the evolving realities of family life and the complexity of "being there" for people we love when we cannot physically be present.