family member has lost her son

[pinkpixiedusttt]

I'm sorry if this is in the wrong thread.

A family member of ours (quite distant) who we haven't seen in years has just lost her son, he was five. He had a long term condition but it was still a shock as he was not expected to die.

I would like to express our condolences but I am not sure what can help, I have written a card with some words from our family, but I was wondering whether it would be appropriate to enclose a donation to a charity relating to his condition - rather than send another bunch of flowers (of which they will be inundated)

Does anyone have any experience of handling this?

At this stage a card is fine. Dealing with donations (and sometimes even flowers) may well be beyond them at the moment.

They may choose a charity for donations instead of flowers for the funeral, so you could donate then if you want to.

Thanks stinkyfeet, that's a much better idea. Also, I did think it might be upsetting to think about other the money helping to save other children's lives when they had lost their son.