When my husband died suddenly, a grief camp helped my kids with their feelings. Now I work at the camp to help children like mine.

• Sandy Bruno's husband, Marc, died of an aneurysm when their girls were 6 and 8.
• The girls went to Comfort Zone Camp, an organization for grieving kids.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sandy Bruno. It has been edited for length and clarity.

When my husband, Marc, and I got together and decided to have kids, we talked openly about our worst fear: not being here for our girls until they were adults.

That fear came true in 2009. I woke up one night to the bed shaking. I thought Marc was having a bad dream, but I couldn't wake him up. Then I saw he was foaming at the mouth. I called 911 while my father-in-law, who lived with us, tried to keep our daughters away.

Mark died the next day. Doctors said he had a massive aneurysm. They couldn't believe he hadn't had symptoms. Suddenly, at 46, I was a single mom faced with the daunting task of raising my daughters, who were 6 and 8, alone. Telling the girls that their father wasn't coming home was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

A grief counselor recommended Comfort Zone Camp

I had no resources for grief and loss. I was a young woman — I couldn't imagine I would need them.

Luckily, the girls had a fantastic school counselor. When another family lost their father just a month after Marc died, the school brought in a grief specialist as well.

The grief specialist told me about Comfort Zone Camp. It's a nonprofit that offers a free weekend of camp for children who've lost a parent, sibling, or caregiver.

I was hesitant to sign the girls up, and they weren't sure they wanted to go. We almost never spent nights apart. But I convinced them to try it for at least one night.

When I picked them up at the end of the weekend, they didn't want to leave.

I learned about the 'camp bubble,' where everyone understands

On the way home, the girls talked about the "camp bubble." I'm a pretty black-and-white person. When counselors mentioned the camp bubble before the weekend, I was skeptical.

But my girls talked about it more and more. In the camp bubble, everyone understood what you were going through. You could talk about your loss, and people would listen and be present; they just understood. My girls told me they wished the whole world was like camp.

I needed to experience it for myself, so I volunteered for a weekend. I was chaperoning a group of teenage girls. As part of the experience, we shared our stories of loss. When I finished, one of the teenagers said, "Thank you for sharing that, because now I know what my mother has experienced."

That comment still means the world to me. The camp bubble is hard to explain to people who haven't experienced it. It's a feeling that touches your soul. Nothing has impacted me like that before or since.

I went to school to become a social worker

That weekend at camp, I realized what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was a stay-at-home mom when Marc was alive. Now I knew I wanted to be there for children the way the counselors and volunteers at the camp had been there for my daughters.

I went back to school, starting with getting my associate degree. I eventually became a licensed clinical social worker. And today I work full time with Comfort Zone Camp.

My role allows me to talk to the kids the camp serves. I'm in charge of making sure we give them the best experience possible while considering any mental-health conditions they have.

I also get to check in with the parents. As surviving parents, we're so focused on our children that we sometimes forget to take care of ourselves.

I still think about Marc daily

The parents who come to me want to know that they're not alone. They want to see that someone has been where they are and is now doing OK.

Marc has been gone for nearly 14 years. We were married for only 10 years, so we've had more time apart than together. But I miss him every day.

I hope Marc's legacy lives on through our daughters, who are now 20 and 21. Through Comfort Zone Camp, they were able to heal. They learned to trust others and find the power in sharing their story. They know what it is to experience loss, and I believe that's made them kinder, more empathetic people who will have an impact on this world.