Mulcahy, who has now lives close to Melbourne in Australia, said she had been away in London over the weekend that Joseph went missing.
“I left the house the day before, kissed him goodbye, and then I never saw him again,” she said.
Having only recently moved to Bristol, thousands of miles from family and friends on the other side of the world, she described feeling “extremely alone” coming to terms with his death.
“I found the circumstances of Joseph’s death quite challenging because I was alone overseas, so I didn’t really have anybody,” she said.
“I felt like I really struggled to connect to my grief for a long time, because I don’t think I ever really believed he was actually gone.”
Mulcahy began posting videos on TikTok in 2023, sharing special things she had done to keep Joseph’s memory alive.
Her videos on things not to say to a person who is grieving and recommendations of books to read on grief and loss were viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.
At the beginning of 2026, Mulcahy documented returning to Bristol to confront her grief “head on”.
“Bristol for me was sort of like a final step,” she said.
“It was almost like me allowing myself to have this final sort of bow on it.”
She said the response from followers was overwhelming.
“I got a lot of messages and a lot of comments and stuff afterwards of people saying I actually want to do this now. I want to go stand in that spot,” she said.
“I want to go back to where my person died.”