Drowning in grief over Oscar’s passing, GENERAL HOSPITAL’s Kim comes home to face her empty life… and makes a desperate decision about her future!

The In Depth Story: Having scattered her son’s ashes at Mt. Kilimanjaro with Drew, Kim returns to Port Charles without her heart. “She’s missing her other half,” portrayer Tamara Braun sighs. “When
she found out she was pregnant, everything became about Oscar and her career. It was just the two of them. So for better or worse, they were each
other’s everything, and Oscar was the main relationship in her life.”

As Kim hoped when they moved to town, Oscar found a family that welcomed him and also went on to help both of them through his final days. But now? “While she certainly has the support of the Quartermaines and friends like Liz, she feels utterly isolated in her grief,” says Braun with a sigh. “She is having a hard time. She’s trying to keep it together and trying to continue to go through the motions, but it’s very, very diffi cult for her.”

Climbing up Kilimanjaro with Drew brought a small sense of closure, while Julian has managed to be there whenever Kim needs him. As wonderful as Oscar’s father and Kim’s boyfriend have been, however, they haven’t been able to ease the grieving mother’s pain. But when she returns home to Port Charles this week, she’ll fi nd a ray of hope to cling to. “She’s not thinking clearly,” warns Braun. “Kim’s generally a pretty rational and logical person. But she’s missing Oscar with every fiber of her being. And she doesn’t want to deal with the loss or the fact that he’s really gone. Her rudder is gone right now, and so is her anchor.”

That being the case, Kim makes a rather desperate plea to fi ll the void left in her life by the passing of her only child. “This is not rational, at all,” concludes Braun. “It’s grief [speaking].”

No matter where the story takes Kim next, her portrayer is hopeful that the character’s grief becomes a teachable moment, much like the way the soap’s Alzheimer’s storyline has. “This is an opportunity to address real issues that women who lose a child face,” she suggests. “What happens when they don’t have the coping skills they thought they had? We can actually address ways for people to get help or help loved ones. Dealing with real issues is what soaps do best.”