{"id":9798,"date":"2025-12-14T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/?p=9798"},"modified":"2025-12-17T21:34:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T21:34:51","slug":"everything-that-happens-to-your-body-between-death-and-the-funeral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/14\/everything-that-happens-to-your-body-between-death-and-the-funeral\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything that happens to your body between death and the funeral"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Have you got a stomach strong enough? (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the fate of our consciousness is a matter of personal belief, what happens to our physical bodies after death is universal.<\/p>\n

Lianna Champ, 59, the UK’s first female undertaker and embalmer, has made dead bodies her life ever since seeing her first one at the age of 15. <\/p>\n

We enlisted her to walk us through everything that happens, between the time of death and the funeral.<\/p>\n

‘Once the heart stops beating the energy of the body stops,’ she tells Metro<\/strong>. ‘It\u2019s our energy and blood flow that keeps us warm, so the body will start to cool and it\u2019ll go through a period of processes and changes, which is what we know as decomposition.<\/p>\n

‘Rigor mortis sets in a few hours after death. It’s a chemical reaction that is caused by a lack of oxygen and biochemical changes in the body after someone has died. This causes the muscles to stiffen and contract.’<\/p>\n

Lianna says that people mistakenly believe that if you attempt to move limbs or fingers during rigor mortis you will break the bones, but this is not true.<\/p>\n

She says: ‘If somebody\u2019s hand went stiff and you were to gently bend their fingers you would be breaking down the rigor mortis because it doesn\u2019t last, it breaks down itself naturally after about 48 hours.’<\/p>\n

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Lianna leading a funeral procession (Picture: Lianna Champ)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our bodies begin to decompose because when we die, the good bacteria in our bodies die with us, meaning the bad bacteria ‘begin the natural process of breaking the body down’.<\/p>\n

Lianna’s work as an embalmer is to slow the above processes down. In fact, she could embalm someone with her eyes closed now, having worked on seven to eight hundred bodies each year.<\/p>\n

She says: ‘The reason we embalm is because it serves to slow down the decomposition process.<\/p>\n

‘Families can then see and spend time with their loved ones looking more like they once were, without the risk of infection and without any unpleasantness. It\u2019s a temporary preservation treatment we give.’<\/p>\n

But while embalming may sound daunting to many of us, Lianna says: ‘People always think it\u2019s more than it actually is, it\u2019s not very invasive there\u2019s just a couple of incisions, but it\u2019s very effective.<\/p>\n

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Lianna runs her own funeral home and has done since she was 21 years old (Picture: Lianna Champ)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

‘Embalming involves formaldehyde gas and the fluid is known as formalin. We inject formaldehyde (formalin) into the blood-vascular system of the body and that simulates circulation.<\/p>\n

‘We then drain the blood out through a vein so what you\u2019re doing is replacing the content of the blood vascular system with formalin. This contains a dye called eosin pink, which gives a life-like appearance to the tissues because it\u2019s our oxygenated blood which gives us that nice pink colour. <\/p>\n

‘When we die blood gravitates to the lower parts, gravity takes that blood down which is why we see this pallor.<\/p>\n

‘If somebody had a heart attack you can get arterial blocking and get blood stuck in the head, so the embalming process takes all that away, it simulates circulation.’<\/p>\n

Lianna says once the technical side of it is done, she can set the features, positioning the mouth and closing the eyes.<\/p>\n

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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

She adds: ‘It [embalming] actually hardens the tissues and holds it in place, so if you\u2019ve got the expression, that will stay as is and it makes it pleasant for the family and the people working with the person as well. It keeps it hygienic.’<\/p>\n

But embalming sadly isn’t always possible, Lianna claims, because sometimes if someone has been dead for a prolonged period of time, the body has started to liquefy and is too decomposed.<\/p>\n

There are also issues with dead bodies which have suffered severe burns or extensive injuries as the result of an accident, but Lianna says she can never stop someone from viewing the deceased. <\/p>\n

It’s not for everyone, but Lianna loves her job, because of the families she gets to support and connect with up<\/a> until their loved one’s funeral. She says: ‘We can give families back that period of time, they want to see their loved one. We can do all this magic work.<\/p>\n

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Lianna Champ has also written the book How To Grieve Like a Champ (Picture: Lianna Champ)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

‘The period in between death and the funeral is a hugely emotional period of transition so it can be absolutely huge.’<\/p>\n

Lianna also helps the families plan their funerals, each of which is unique to the individual, meaning she sees plenty of different requests, which she tries to accommodate. <\/p>\n

‘There is no norm. I always say I\u2019ll do anything as long as it\u2019s legal,’ she says. ‘There\u2019s nothing that would make me turn a hair now.’<\/p>\n

But Lianna has seen some sights. She’s had dogs travelling in the limousine as the main mourners. She’s had to pour whiskey on people’s coffins because they can’t take the bottle with them. She’s buried people in disco clothes.<\/p>\n

It’s pretty remarkable, considering she was the only woman doing the role when she qualified aged 18. Her mother wasn’t a fan of her career choice, so drove her to a funeral parlour aged 15 in the hopes of putting her off. Ironically, it had the opposite effect.<\/p>\n

‘I found someone who took me on and I worked for a very tiny salary and did all my training because I was the first and only qualified female undertaker,’ she recalls. ‘When I did get my qualification the National Association of Funeral Directors rang to say I was the only female.’<\/p>\n

You would think spending so much time around dead bodies would take its toll on Lianna emotionally, but she says she ‘still throws the duvet back on a morning’.<\/p>\n

She admits: ‘It does get upsetting, but then I have to remember it\u2019s not about me.<\/p>\n

‘I did the funeral of a lady who I had met. I had been to visit her several times during her terminal illness, I wrote her funeral service and we read it through together and she was just so, so lovely.<\/p>\n

‘When I was doing her ceremony I did get emotional because I\u2019d spent that time with her and she was such a beautiful soul and she\u2019d had quite a hard life.<\/p>\n

‘But I always say the day I don\u2019t feel is the day I stop doing it. It\u2019s not a job you can do if you don\u2019t care about people.’<\/p>\n

Lianna is the author of How To Grieve Like a Champ<\/a>,<\/em> written to help navigate grief.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This article was originally published in August 2023.<\/em><\/p>\n

Do you have a story to share?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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