get over my fear of death

I started having panic attacks about this when I was eleven. I went through the death of a relative at age eight, and it kept sticking with me and then one night in bed, I broke down. I couldn’t breathe, I was hyperventalating (sp?), shaking, my heart felt as though it was being ripped in half. I think about it so much. I’ve been turning more to religion, but I can’t learn the unknown and that terrifies me.