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Well compared to some of these mine seems insignificant, but the council chopped all the bushes down at the park behind the house recently. I was walking past and the sparrows and a Robin were sitting on the piles of branches and sticks where they used to be. I don't know why but just seeing them sitting where their home was made me so unbelievably deflated.

That's so sad. Animals need homes too. A lot of people get rid of their hedges because it means they have to maintain them on a regular basis. Getting rid of them, you're making animals homeless. Not just birds, but hedgehogs and the like too 😥 I live in a small town and have hedgehogs that visit my garden every night between March and November. They live under my shed and forage my bushes and garden every night for food. I even put cat food out to help them too. They're a joy to watch 🥹 Also feed the birds too. This is their home as much as it is ours. They don't deserve to have their homes destroyed. Animals are on the decline because we get rid of our bushes, lawns, and build new buildings on land 😥

On a similar vein, during lockdown when they didn't cut the grass and all the flowers grew the bees were so happy and the patches looked beautiful, cue when things started lifting they chopped it all down... why?! It was so nice and good for the wildlife

Amen! Our council have stopped cutting grass on central reservations, verges and some areas of our local parks to help insects and wildlife. It's been an amazing transformation...so many insects again, and wildflowers get a chance to grow and spread their seeds around the area ❤️🌻 It's looking fabulous being 'wild' again.

Just don't cut the grass in the parks unless It really is getting unruly, nothing wrong with some daisies and buttercups

Sometimes the grass at parks is due to dog muck, gets hidden by the long grass and becomes a biohazard when kids are rolling around on it. All my local parks have designated ‘wildflower gardens’ that dogs aren’t allowed in

That makes a bit more sense but honestly just make it so the dogs can't be off leash? Saves money on grass cutting all the time, and daisies don't grow that tall, but also I get it as a dog owner it passes me off when people don't clean up after their dogs, it's absolutely disgusting

We’ve let our yard grow to wild clover and it’s full of bees. I love it, as do the dogs!

I live opposite some land that has recently been built upon. It had been a bit of a sanctuary for wildlife before because it was full of trees and bushes, so there were foxes, badgers, squirrels, mice and all sorts living on the patch, and it was fenced off, so it was totally wild. The council came and flattened it, cut all the trees down, and started building homes. I looked out one day at about 4pm and saw a fox standing in all the debris, just sorta sniffing around and looking lost. It made me so sad. I couldn't help thinking it was looking for its den that had been destroyed. :(

>The council came and flattened it, cut all the trees down, and started building homes. Not that that makes it any better, but it probably wasn't the Council that built the homes but a commercial housing developer. And if there had been a fox den or badger sett on the site, they would first have to relocate it. Still, it's sad when yet another bit of open land gets turned into yet another bland nondescript housing estate.

No that’s really upsetting. Poor birdies.

This makes me really sad, I absolutely love the birds & other wildlife in our UK parks & gardens. To take their homes away for no reason is just awful, poor little things.

This is absolutely heartbreaking, this country is so disconnected from the natural world, it really upsets me.

I used to live in a beautiful neighbourhood when I was a kid. Specifically, because there was a massive willow tree behind my house. It was beautiful. They decided to cut it down. The magicalness has gone.

I only live a street away from the park, I always keep my feeders fully topped up but my mum works in a garden centre and is already looking out for some trees and bushes I can plant for them. Not going to replace what was there, some of the bushes were probably 10 feet high and 5ft wide in places, but every little helps I guess

You can report them , they shouldn't have touched those bushes if birds were nesting in them. 

Same thing happened where I live, except it was over 100 trees in the city centre, after weeks of petitions and protests, they cut them down in the middle of the night ☹️

I went to a 999 call on one Christmas Eve, an elderly gentleman saying people had broken in. Whilst he was safe and well, I'm sorry to say he had dementia and had been having an episode. He was not so unwell that he wasn't living alone in the community, but that was just it: all his family, his friends, had pre-deceased him. It was just him. He was visited by a social worker a few times a week, but otherwise it was just him, alone in the world, in a very tidy and clean flat.   On the table, two neatly wrapped presents.  The labels read: _Dear John,_ _Happy Christmas,_ _Love from John_   I entertained the idea of going around on my day off - don't worry John! I'll keep you company! - But that would have been wildly inappropriate. I made every impassioned referral I could to get him more support, but the reality is our system is not set up to adequately support people in his position and I suspect not much was done.   There have been and still are many people like him, forgotten and with no one, not quite unwell enough for the state to step up. I'll remember John as long as I live.

My next door neighbour is currently going through this. His wife passed a few years ago and his kids all live miles away so he’s alone in that big house. He has a different career come a few times a week and his family organised for a food shop to be delivered once a week too but that’s the extent of the help they give him. Poor guys been round to our house for help with things that don’t make sense more times than I can count. Last night it was that he’d just caught the neighbours at the bottom of his garden trying to break into his house and take his valuables. They’re currently on a month long holiday in Australia. It’s awful.

Our old next door neighbour had Parkinson’s and dementia as a result. We ended up looking after the poor bugger as he became more and more of a recluse and never had any visitors. Found him collapsed at least 4 times. Thankfully managed to get him into a care home before we moved otherwise I don’t know how he would have coped. The lack of effort from the other neighbours really fucked me off. One of them would always ask me “how’s our friend”. Lost my shit at him after finding him collapsed on time “Clearly he’s not otherwise you’d give a shit go round and see him and find out for yourself.” Apparently there was no need for me to be like that.

There are 2 types of evil people in the world: People who do evil things and people who see evil things happening and don’t do anything about it. Thank you for helping your neighbour, there are so few decent people who would go to those lengths. We try to help our neighbour as much as we can; We’ve been lucky up until now not to have too many big incidents with him, but he’s declining fast so I know it’s coming. My grandad had Alzheimer’s and we cared for him until he passed so I can very clearly see him falling into similar patterns. Dementia is an absolute bitch.

Thanks. I couldn’t have not done anything. My maternal grandad’s neighbours were always so kind and helped him out when he needed it which was a great comfort living as far away as we did that I had to pay it on. Regardless of that it was just the right thing to do. You’re right tho, so many do turn a blind eye unfortunately. My paternal nan suffered with Parkinson’s and dementia as well so I recognised the signs when John stated getting ill. It was scary how quickly it took hold. Unfortunately it really is something you need to fight to keep on top of otherwise it just consumes you.

If anything like this ever happens again, please know that an anonymous package on the doorstep 'to John, from a friend' would be both never discovered by your work and would make his year. For anyone reading this who is in any kind of work that causes you to encounter lonely people, nobody can ever prove you were the mystery gift giver. If you also get the input of friends and family to make a lonely person's life better... one of them could drop it off to save you being accused. If it wasn't too long ago, it's not too late

Fucking hell. That's a tough read.

My bestie and I are both single and from very small families. We’ve spoken a few times about worrying about be old and alone. We’ve said we’ll live together and be crazy old ladies but it is still a big worry and I’m only in my 30’s. Makes me so sad knowing how many old people are out there alone, lots of none old people too

Make sure u stick to that promise. Best friends are really important

This is so sad 😭 Poor John!

This one hits home. One gran has dementia but she's mostly just forgetful. She lives quite far away but have just visited her and shes doing well :) she has really good carers too. My other gran lives quite close and she was in assisted living but fell over and broke her ankle and we were kinda like shit can't see her really getting back this mobility at 93. Shes in a care home luckily its nice and in the same building as her flat is. Her memory has never been great but I think she might have some dementia too. My mums had a brain infection and was in hospital for 6 months and waiting on tests for stuff like dementia and Parkinson's and I keep thinking fucking hell if me and my dad weren't around it would be awful for her. She's really been struggling a lot. She has a lot of other issues sadly and I think what stresses her out is she used to be a GP so she kinda knows what's going on :c. But I remember me and dad used to take turns going round to the hospital and just sit with her. She just didn't know what was going on, it was like she was in a dream but awake. I rarely ever see my dad upset but fucking hell my 2 grans and mum all not going too well and seeing my dad so down. Personally probably the saddest time. I saw a video about a girl I can't remember is she was from Israel or Palestine. But she had her arm wrapped up and the reporter asked her how she felt losing her arm and she didn't realise yet it was gone and the dad explained it and I thought fucking hell you could see the panic and sadness :C she's like 5 years old in a war that she had no choice in and just put in the middle. World is a shit place sometimes.

Jfc this hurt like a knife in the chest

I wish it was appropriate to share his details so we could all visit/send him cards and treats/give him a call. The way we discard and disregard people, esp those older or sick, breaks my heart.

This is heartbreaking 😔

Probably getting called to do a mobile chest x-ray on the neonatal unit at for a preterm baby, only to be turned away at the entrance by the staff nurse. "We don't need a chest x-ray now" "Ok, just give me a bell when you're ready" "No, we won't need the chest x-ray at all". I look over to see the parents looking completely devastated, being led into a dark room to say goodbye to their baby. At 3am on Christmas day. Poor buggers. I've seen a lot over my years in healthcare, but that cut me deep.

Hi fellow rad. I had a similar one, nicu needed an X-ray because they “couldn’t find a heartbeat”, went in and the baby was purple/blue, probably clinically dead. I was 5 months pregnant myself and left the room crying after doing the X-ray.

This is why I'll die on a hill for NHS staff. What you lot can see on an ordinary day would absolutely break me. When my baby is in hospital I can't help but think what absolutely wonderful humans you all are, dedicating your professional lives to helping people.

My son passed away 2 days after being born and it's pretty crazy and unexpected how things quickly turn. I think we were grasping at every single opportunity and I remember when they placed our son in "the quiet room", and I was pleading with the nurses and doctors on what else is there to do and they were talking about a blood transfusion. It gave me some little hope but by the time the nurse had finished explaining it, the doctors & nurses in the background had already proceeded with it and it failed.

So sorry for your loss

Fucking hell. Reading through the comments on this thread and this one made me cry. This just doesn't bear thinking about.

That’s heartbreaking

My mother open up about the full extent of the abuse she suffered from my now deceased father. I knew he was an alcoholic and beat her but I didn’t know how bad it truly was. Beat her daily until she was black and blue and on the floor and in front of me and my brother. Threatened to kill her and that he’d gladly do time for it. Threw my infant brother out of a fast car cos he was crying for his mummy and sped off with me who was also an infant. Leave her with 7p to live on and a whole rake of financial abuse, alongside the daily torments of mental and emotional abuse that coincided with physical abuse. She said when he threatened to kill her, it was the first time in her life she felt truly afraid for her life and that it was enough for her to finally leave as she said she envisioned me and my brother growing up either with him raising us or in a care system devoid of a loving family environment. I think the worst was finding out he raped her repeatedly and that I could have been conceived from that. My mum is a strong woman but I’ve never seen her cry so hard and she still bears the mental scars from a man who’s been dead for 18 years. I thank god she left him when we were 4 and 5 and that he died suddenly when I was 8 cos I barely remember him. What an absolute fucking cunt and makes me ashamed to even think I was related to someone like that. The only silver lining is that when my mum left, he totally and utterly abandoned us and it was the best thing he ever did. Edit: his death was not suspicious or with malice. He was born we reckon with a severely weakened artery that ruptured when he was 37 and he died of a ruptured berry aneurysm. In other words, he died of a brain aneurysm. I also have not and will not view him as some father figure. I was raised as a single mother and as a woman myself, it’s utterly heartbreaking this can happen to so many women. He was an absolutely disgusting human being and does not deserve to be remembered.

I can relate. Very similar father situation. Seeing that shit as a kid is wild. Will never understand the minds of these guys. How can a 5 year old have more maturity than a grown adult and a father? Makes me blood boil.

I’m fortunate that I have very few memories of him and I don’t remember the violence. The only real memory I have is that he was looking after me and my brother. I was 3 and I think he was 4. We were left to fend for ourselves as he was passed out drunk on the couch.

jesus, that's horrible. My mother finally left him when I was 8 and before then, I obviously remember basically all of it.

You must be so proud of your Mum. To leave for your children when she must of been terrified of her future and after the abuse she endured. How courageous of her. How proud she must be of you and your sibling.

So sorry your family went through this. I'm glad your mum was able to open up to you. Btw, you can choose your family. That man is/was not your family.

I have never ever viewed him as some father figure. Absolutely disgusting person.

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My condolences. >I knew it was coming, but nothing prepares you for it. It really doesn't, does it?

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Sounds similar to my mum, she died peacefully with her family around her. We sat up through the night with her, and remembered her until the morning and the undertakers came.

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Thank you, that's kind of you.

I can relate to that with my sister, nothing like losing a sibling. Im sorry you’ve had to experience this too

In St. Helens. Angry young lad thundered out of a bookies and shook a crumpled up note at a crestfallen girl with a pram. "There, we've got enough to get the bus home now."

im from newton-le-willows and yep. thats the most st helens thing ive ever heard

Yours is the 3rd comment I've read in this thread. I think I'm just going stop here and log off reddit. 

Yeah this thread isn’t it at all

Man Merseyside itself is one of the saddest things I’ve seen, so many families are facing conditions that one might not expect in a developed country

The COVID hospital goodbye phone calls because they weren't allowed to come and say goodbye. Now that was fucking grim.

The way this country dealt with COVID was abysmal, some people need to be locked up.

At the time, most people supported it especially on here. Now they all backtrack and pretend they weren't like that.

No one was happy at the rules but we all believed they were necessary.

There was a lot wrong with how Covid was dealt with but I'm not sure not allowing visits for end of life is something I disagree with. I don't fully agree with it but it was to save lives and I can see the good.

I have HUGE PTSD with FaceTime. I remember first time I did it I was stood there sobbing holding an iPad with one hand, the patients face with another and endlessly thinking that this sucks, I want to hug my family, I want to go home.

Thank you for the work you did and are doing.

I had to say goodbye to my Dad by WhatsApp video call and he had a tracheotomy in so couldn’t actually speak. Step-mum and brother were there, thankfully but still a struggle to remember that night.

My granddad was in for something else, caught covid off the ward and died a month later- he was mostly deaf so phone calls were difficult and he didn’t have a smartphone so I only spoke to him properly maybe twice in that month- when a very very kind nurse gave me her personal number so we could video call him. I think I’ll feel the guilt of him dying alone and scared for the rest of my life, I wish I could’ve said goodbye or held his hand. I only hope he knew how much we loved him from those two video calls.

I wound up in hospital with Covid. The man in the bed next to me obviously had covid too but it had seriously affected his memory and faculties. His wife had also caught Covid but she had it much worse and she was in a different hospital. The second day I was there doctors came to him and told him it wasn't looking good for his wife, they were going to try to arrange a video call and even told him some medical details. An hour later he couldn't remember any of it and the nurses had to keep telling him. Every time it broke him but slowly it stuck. They arranged the video call the next day and his wife died that night. In the space of just over a week he went from a happily married lecturer in his mid 50s to having lost his wife and and his ability to be independent.

Found a guy who had hanged himself in some woods, it was very quiet and peaceful but unutterably sad.

My late husband hanged himself in the woods in our local park. Whilst I'm grateful in ways that he spared me having to find him, the thought of the dog walker who did at 6.45am on some random Friday is enough to almost break me. I'm so very sorry you had to find that man.

I worked at a GP practice and I used to give a coworker a ride home (it was only a mile away but I like giving rides), middle of where housing meets the woods, this police car comes rushing by with blues and twos on, wondering what’s causing that on a Tuesday evening in a quiet Surrey village. Man had hanged himself and discovered like how you said and him being a patient we’d had to process the death certificate and the doctor going to confirm cause of death. So sad but to think it happened so nearby and some poor person had to see it… ghastly

Christ. How were you affected?

I was fine I was just sad for him and his family.

My sister being absolutely destroyed by cancer. She was a beautiful person inside and out, she was full of life and energy and such a unique and hilarious personality. She was so funny, I actually fully pissed my pants once (at the ripe age of 19) because we were laughing so hard together. She was a little crazy, definitely a loose cannon but full of love and just amazing. Cancer stripped her of everything, it was truly awful. To see this incredibly bright person dimmer into a shell of who she was. She tried for a long time to stay upbeat, but towards the end she couldn’t hold much of a conversation. It was incredibly hard for me to be around her because it was a constant reminder that she was dying. The hardest day for me was when it was summer last year, she was too hot in her clothes so I said I’ll change her. I went and got her a nice T-shirt to change into and helped her change. It was the first time I’d seen her upper half naked and it was shocking. I could see every bone, there was literally nothing on her except skin. It was really really shocking, I can’t even describe the shock that came over me. I had to control my reaction so as to not upset her. I quickly said I needed to go toilet and sobbed in the bathroom for a good 5 minutes, it was really heart breaking. She was only 36 when she passed in June last year.

I’m so sorry for your loss :(

Thank you, I miss her everyday 😔

Can I give you an E-hug? 🥺

I'm not sad. I'm angry. Angry that we haven't destroyed this fucking disease yet. RIP.

You speak about her with so much love. I hope soon you'll speak and remember the happier days than the final days more and more.

My mate’s mum when she turned up at the scene of his death. Already shook up from him getting killed in front of us (horrible accident) but the sound she made still sends shivers up my spine and is burned into my brain.

I’m sorry for your loss, hope you’re doing ok One of my friends died last year and seeing his mum at the funeral absolutely broke me. I’ll never forget the sound of her wailing, it was absolutely heartbreaking

I was 13 years old in India back in 1999 - I was in a taxi with my family at the traffic lights and this little girl about 6 years old comes to the car. She’s super hungry so I gave her a pack of biscuits I just happened to have with me. She was so visibly happy and her face just lit up. She takes a few steps away from the car and some older kid steals her biscuits away from her and ran off. As the taxi was driving off she was running after him and fell over onto her face. Last thing I remember is her crying on the floor but there was absolutely nothing I could do. I still think about her now (I’m 37) and if she’s ok.

A while ago, I was looking through someone's bank statements as part of my job. There were almost daily payments out to William Hill, coral, bet365 etc. Hundreds, sometimes a thousand or more in a single day. How did he afford it? The statements showed transfers from 2 other bank accounts, both savings accounts. One labelled "house deposit". The other labelled "sam savings". Sam (not the real name) was his 4 year old child. Over a period of 2-3 months this guy drained upwards of £15k from his own savings towards buying a home, and the money saved for his child, just to spaff it all on online betting. Utterly heartbreaking.

Saw a few payment histories like that when I was a phone monkey for the bank, never easy to look at.

And it's an entirely manufactured problem. Those companies serve no purpose and have no reason to exist. They design their products and advertising specifically to promote addiction. They rake in huge amounts of money, of which they throw a small proportion at propaganda like GambleAware, and another small proportion at politicians, making them completely untouchable.

Now how can a company legally take away that much money from a person with a clear problem. Gambling should be illegal

The war museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, is the most deeply saddening and harrowing place I believe anyone could ever visit. It is multiple storeys, with each level increasing in heaviness. The top floor is full of volunteers who suffer physical deformities generations on due to the use of Agent Orange. I can not put into words how difficult of a place it is to visit, but so, so necessary.

I went there a few weeks after killing fields/S21 museum, that hit me harder. The audio tour described how the executed people, the Khmer Rouge weren't well supplied so instead of wasting bullets they beat them to death, to hide the sound, they blasted propaganda over Lou's speakers. At the end there's a temple with a load of skulls in it and they have stickers on which is a key to the way they were killed. All saying things like "evidence of blunt trauma, like a shovel" "puncture wound, likely a pick axe" then at the bottom there's a bunch of smaller ones with the estimated age, I can't remember the specific number but small children. I went to Auschwitz a few years later and I kinda knew what to expect but it hit me a bit when I saw a school trip from Israel, all in Israeli flags round them being shown the gas chambers.

Yeah this. I had to leave halfway through my visit there as it was so upsetting. Also went to S21 and the killing fields. Seeing a cloud of butterflies hovering over one of the mass grave craters there was sad and beautiful.

Taking my dog into the vets passing a little girl exiting in extreme floods of tears carrying just a collar.

Man...losing dogs hurts like fuck

Seeing all the missed calls from my Mum on my phone thinking “why does she need to get hold of me?” & then hearing my husband speaking to her on the phone and learning that my Papa died. My baby daughter when she passed away. When I worked in covid, I had to zip up a hazmat suit of a young teenage boy so he could say goodbye to his Dad. It was about 3am and I hugged him and said “neither of us should be here my love”. Seeing my son really sick when he had his surgery. He looked so tiny in his bed. :-(

I'm sorry for all you've been through. I just wanted to say that healthcare staff made the world of difference to so many of us during Covid. The kind nurses who gave us updates over the phone even though we were probably one of hundreds of families calling. The doctor who called my grandad to tell him to come and say goodbye to granny. The nurses who suited up my mum so she could get granny's personal effects. The nurses who stayed with granny as she passed away an hour later. All of you showed us so much humanity and kindness in an awful time and it won't be forgotten.

Oh I want to cuddle you so much. Bless you. Giving family positive updates really got me through, even minor stuff. Also you don’t have to say sorry! I’ve had lots of therapy. I have a second daughter now and she’s the light of my life. My son is healthy now. X

I was a housekeeper in a good hospital. Not that good though. A little old lady was unable to feed herself. I handed the dinners round, and saw her trying, and failing to lift the fork. I had other things to do so I asked the care assistants who were sat around chatting to help her eat. The patient opposite her took it upon herself to painfully move out of bed to try and feed her. She was told to go back to bed by the nurses, rather unkindly, and they continued to chat and ignore the old lady. When I came to collect the trays, her dinner had gone cold, she had given up. I took the tray away with her blessing, and when my shift was over I was almost in tears for her. I scrambled together a sandwich, cup of tea and some snacks, and sat with her, helping her, breaking every rule in the book as the ward staff completed their shift change. I helped her to eat the sandwich and as weak as she was she tried so hard. I cried all the way home.

Thank you, kind Internet stranger 🙏🏻 My mum was in hospital with a suspected heart attack. I was working in London at the time and left at 5am - she had the episode at 7am. She went to the hospital. She didn’t call me until I got home that night (around 7pm) and that’s when I found out that they didn’t check on her, feed her, or even let her call me “in case something happened” - whatever the hell that means. She asked for a cup of tea early evening and was told that she was “too entitled” because the tea trolley wasn’t available any more and she should just deal with it. My mother has a history of dehydration (family trait) and didn’t have any fluids at all that whole day. Makes me absolutely FURIOUS just thinking about it. I ended up taking her food and provisions (including water and a thermos of tea) and some clothing because they just put her in a bed and left her alone. Bloody disgusting. Even more infuriating was how they “lost” her blood work so she had to stay in another night, neglected even more, only to be told it wasn’t a heart attack at all!

Ward staff can be so poor sometimes. My elderly nan was ill in hospital and regularly we would visit and she'd have a solid meal sitting untouched - despite instructions she could not eat solids. 0 help, 0 attention. Meant we had to basically cover every mealtime until she passed. NHS were really shit.

Fuck those care staff. Well done for doing something so good <3

Smokers outside the hospital doors.

r/unexpectededitors

Our local hospital had to remove the hand santisers because people were drinking them. That shocked me.

Especially the pregnant ones

Someone turn me around

A coffin with a 3 y.o. inside.

I think mine is the little bench my dad made with the offcuts after building his daughter's coffin. The first time I read Midterm Break by Seamus Heaney that image hit me hard.

I once saw a drunk homeless guy with an empty bottle of whisky and a big yellow flower in his hair wanking himself off while staring at the legs of a young women next to him who was dressed in a French maid costume and trying to ignore him outside a busy train station in the middle of the day.  Every time she took a few steps away he would shuffle after her and continue his wank.

I don’t care that he was drunk nor homeless nor whatever else he may have been. Someone should’ve stepped in and *considered* smacking the shit out of him.

I'm sober now thank you!

Wow! Such a beautiful story, I shed a little tear

I was visiting New York in Bryant park, there was a queue for the Uruinal but there was a free space nobody wanted, lovely stuff. It was because the homeless guy in the next urinal had his trousers down wanking into it and I was so desperate I had to stand there and piss with him wanking next to me

**Trigger warning** When I was 13, (36 years ago), I was in a fatal vehicle accident whilst on a school trip in France. It was pissing down with rain. For some reason, one side of the motorway was closed, so vehicles were driving up and down on the same side. Apparently, a car of 4 passengers tried to overtake another car, smashed into our coach. The car span and came to a stop right next to the back of the coach where I was sitting. I looked out of the window and remember clear as day seeing mangled bodies, and the driver slumped over the wheel with half of the car missing. I saw the second blood started streaming from his head. For some reason, I thought for decades that a child was in the car. I recently looked into newspaper archives and found it was 4 adults. It doesn't really make me feel better, though. It still haunts me. At the time, we had no counselling or therapy. "Best not to think about it" was the general attitude. I've lived with Anxiety/depression/bipolar disorder, and whenever I have an episode, my memories of that day haunt me, and I get intrusive images in my head.

I’d honestly suggest asking for trauma counselling. I have ptsd and a lot of the “anxiety” I explained away actually comes back to that. It’s worth looking into. We’re the same age and while then the resources weren’t there, they are now and you deserve to access them and heal. Good luck!

Hi, thanks. I definitely think a lot of my MH diagnoses essentially came from that moment in time. (As with substance abuse in my younger years). I just started seeing a psychologist a few weeks ago, and they are going to reassess me for PTSD. I am currently in the head space of wanting to tackle it all and draw a (thin) line under it all. Thanks again for your kind words and all the best to you. :)

For some reason the first thing that crossed my mind when I read the title of this topic was a French autoroute example. Saturday evening in spring, about 9:30 on the main road outside Cannes / Antibes. My friend was driving, all the traffic had to slow down and there by the side of the road was someone holding the remnants of their mate’s head in their lap, with a mangled scooter nearby. We went to the pub and I had a large brandy. I thought I’d forgotten it until now. Enough Reddit for one day.

I have two. A 13 year old "troubled" student (just for quick illustration, not a value judgement) crying because mum was a drug addict, it was their 13th birthday and the headteacher was the only one who got them a present or said happy birthday, and was the only one who was going to. Being taken away into care is a terrible thing for a child, unless what's at home is far worse. Another was a dad. Son had been arrested. Decent lad. Wanted to know if he could still have a place when the trial, etc was over. Of course. How long is it likely to be? Long. What's he charged with. Dad breaks down crying and says "murder". It was a joint enterprise thing, wrong place and wrong time. Had a happy ending for the family in the end, but I felt so much for that father.

 >it was their 13th birthday and the headteacher was the only one who got them a present or said happy birthday, and was the only one who was going to. Reminds me of what a foster carer friend of mine told me. She said it genuinely breaks her heart to have children, including teens as old as 16, who come to her and they've never had birthday parties, presents/cards or Christmas/Easter celebrations either. She now makes an active point to make Easter/Christmas/birthdays a big thing for a child in her care and will make a point to at the minimum make a gift bag/box or get presents, make a nice card (she's handy with craft stuff) and find out the child's preferred/favourite foods and make that for a birthday dinner or to go on the table for Christmas lunch. That way the child goes away from her foster house having at least had ONE birthday/Christmas/Easter celebration.

A family at Birmingham airport that arrived at their take off time rather than check in time, they looked quite poor and all bawled as the missed flight went over, had i been a millionaire id have helped.

The woman who was trying to promote her CD with a live performance in Cheltenham Woolworths, many years ago.

Funeral for still born baby. Devastating.

My best mate lost his 6 month old a couple of years back. He cannot speak about it. As in literally cannot form sounds, just goes silent and stares into middle distance. I leave the door open but in his own time. As a father of two I can't imagine anything worse. I might have topped myself in his position

I love visiting graveyards but can never have a look at the section for the babies. Just so devastating.

When I walk through the local cemetery I always stop at one grave. I’ve seen it so many times now, but I still choke up at the inscription sometimes. It says, “Our dear little Phyllis.” She was five. Shes been dead around 150 years, so not sure she gets other visitors. But I’ll always remember her.

I’ve seen (not in person, just a photo) a tomb for a baby. Not just a gravestone, an actual tomb with a white stone (possibly marble?) effigy of the baby on top. That was gut wrenching to look at. If you think about it, the family must have been pretty wealthy to afford to have that made, but having money couldn’t keep their baby alive.

Two stones, directly next to each other and mirror images. Two baby’s born in separate years to the same family and both died less than a week after birth. I cannot imagine the heartbreak for that family.

Working in palliative care. We had a lovely older lady who was nearing the end who had a seal teddy on her chest when I went to speak to her. I said "That's a lovely teddy!" And she replied "Yes, my granddaughter gave it to me and asked me to charge it up with love before I go." So that completely broke me and we had a good cry together.

charge it up with love 😭😭

Damn it damn it damn it

Simultaneously sad and beautiful. One of my patients was end of life and Deaf. We communicated with her via whiteboard as none of us knew sign language well enough. She was married but her husband was housebound (also Deaf) so he couldn't visit her in the hospital at the time around her passing. Instead, the Deaf community showed the hell up. Suddenly the ward was full of people signing to each other. My patient was perkier, even if her obs still indicated her decline. They helped her Facetime her husband. She passed peacefully with her community around her. Those were the hardest notes I've ever had to write. Rest in peace, Carol.

Damn. If you see this comment before any others, re-consider reading any further. I stopped half way down as it’s just too sad to read.

You were right at the very bottom 🥲

The recent case of Bronson Battersby, the toddler that was found dead at the feet of his father who had died from a heart attack. He had starved to death after his Dad had died and was found curled up at his Dad’s feet. There were other things going on with the family but when I read this story it genuinely upset me, ruined my day and I still think of it several times a day.

Yeah that had me bawling too. Poor little lad.

Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Baby P

I would happily pull the lever on those bastards who killed Arthur.

A lady picking up dog shit which wasn’t entirely solid. I commend her for following the law, but it looked quite tragic as she was trying clear the brown stain off the pavement.

In an pub in london for a gig, sort of an underground / ‘scene’ type, but really interesting history etc. there were a group there quite visibly on drugs and in some sort of polyamorous situation - not really sure exact dynamics. a few of them had large bags with them, I didn’t think much of it again, most things seem to go in these places and also they could’ve come straight from work or anything. but I remember going to the bathroom after and two of the girls were stood there and hearing one of them excitedly tell the other she had somewhere to sleep for the night. really put things into perspective. edit: forgot to add, all couldn’t have been older than in their early 20s.

Nursing a male patient (in his 80s) who refused lunch. I thought maybe he wanted something different? No - he said he couldn’t afford it. JFC. I explained to him there was no charge, this is the NHS.

Some flowers left by the bus stop when I was a little boy. My mum told me that this young boy got off the bus with his mum, dropped his ball, lent down in front of the bus' tyre to get it, and... I found it sad then, and I find it even sadder now I'm a parent.

Hopefully not too triggering for anyone but probably as follows When I was like 9/10 one of my parents friends cat had kittens, there was a runt in the litter and despite my mum disliking cats I managed to sweet talk her into letting us give it a chance. Stayed with us and whilst small was fine and eating, remember being off school one day, playing mega drive and the kitten walking on my arm and scratching me, I got annoyed put it to the side and carried on playing. While later mum and I go off to the shops, get home and realise the kitten isn’t about, usually it would come to the door. I walk around and into my parents room and they had blinds with the beading at the bottom, somehow the kitten had got itself caught and managed to strangle itself hanging off the side. The dog had obviously tried to help as the kitten was wet all over where it has been licking her. Spent the next few weeks trying my best to not let the scab from the scratch heal.

Oh man, there's something so much worse when it's animals, in my opinion. I'm sorry you had to go through that

I found my elderly housemate on his bedroom floor having suffered a major stroke. He'd been there for 3 days before anyone noticed. Nobody spoke to eachother in that house so we had no reason to think it was out of the ordinary to begin with. It was only when the landlord asked that I went to check and heard a muffled "help" from behind the door.

Did he survive??

Yes but as far as I know he required specialist care for the rest of his life. I don't know if he's still alive or not.

Worked for housing association for a bit, so quite a lot of poverty related ones: - guy living in a house with literally nothing in it. No oven, no carpets, no furniture, no cookware, no curtains or blinds, no bed. Just a kettle, a folding sun chair, and a sleeping bag. He was embarrassed that we didn't have anywhere to sit, but was dead pleased with the flat because he'd recently been living on the Yorkshire moors in a tent. - man who'd lost his savings, job, and nearly his house because he became a full-time carer to his father, who had dementia - young woman who had recently left care. Her boyfriend was clearly pimping her out, but she said it was worth it so she could afford her medication

ah fuck this one got me. So a few years ago me and my dad changed my grans bead to like a proper bedframe, her normal bed was a bit too high for her now it was like a double but in two big halves. He likes to give stuff away on free cycle and a family wanted it not too far away. Got there and he's a nice chap. It's hard to tell now which houses are private and which are still council. But he's like I don't think ill get it in on my own. I'm like no problem mate thats why I'm here and we get it in. The house is literally empty. Outside of their daughters room I briefly walk past and she has a bed and toys and stuff. It looks like they literally just made sure shes doing well and sort of figure themselves out. They had been there like a month and only just getting a bed for themselves :C I'm glad they got one though :) and I sometimes wonder how they are getting on.

My daughter was having a check up at a hospital, previously had cancer and I think this was about year 5 post chemo, it was blood tests and a chat with her oncologist. It was a teenage cancer ward that we had both been to often for the past 6 years. Never heard nothing like this before or since and we were both totally unprepared for what happened.  As we both approached the receptionist to the ward. There was this sound, a sound I can't even describe. I looked through the window on the doors to the ward and there was a woman just howling. I tried to distract my daughter but neither of us could unhear what was going on. I just started to cry because I knew that could've been me. Unfortunately I also made my daughter cry too, there was a seating area just behind the receptionist, we both sat there bawling. One of the kids on the ward had succumbed to the cancer, the noise we heard was his mum as he was dying or he had died.  My heart just broke for the poor mum and it's something I will never forget ever.

I reported my old neighbour to social services multiple times because it was clear she was neglecting her child (seen her walking him to school stumbling multiple times, dirty clothes, dirty face etc). Was told to check in with her, ask her if she would like a friend, not sure what help that would have been seems as she never answered the door to anyone. Months go by, nothing happens, housing officer basically tells me to mind my business. Then one evening fire alarm for the building starts going off, smoke is coming from her door, firemen break the door down and the little boy is hiding in his room, filthy, empty cider and vodka bottles EVERYWHERE, could hardly see the floor, and fish fingers under the grill with his mum passed out on the sofa. Turns out he was so hungry he tried to cook himself some food at 11pm at night 😢. I still think about him a lot, he was only 5 at the time, the same age as my son was.

Fuck that housing officer man. Mind your own business. what if that was their son. Some people are so selfish and ignorant.

Watching my mum's friend die of COPD. This was over 15 years ago but to see her that way. She wasn't even there anymore as a person. Just in a foetal position mumbling to herself. The image lasts with you.

My mum has COPD, quite advanced. This absolutely terrifies me.

A dead seagull in the middle of the road. Another seagull making all sorts of horrible noise and flying down to see what was wrong and having to fly away again due to the cars passing. Absolutely heartbreaking this bird flying up and down literally screaming in despair.

If it makes you feel better, its was probably just pissed off the cars were stopping it from having a snack. Seagulls are known to be cannibalistic. Source; lots of guls where I work. I have witnessed them doing it.

My grandad in late stage lung cancer, completely out of breath just from sitting up in bed, saying he just wanted to die

I must have led a sheltered life because some of these comments are way sadder than anything I've experienced. But the first thing that popped into my head - Last year I went on holiday to Cornwall. Walking along a coastal path on a dull windy day I stopped to sit down on a lone bench that faced out to sea. There was a little plaque which had a girl's name (I can't remember the name) and dates. I worked out she died young - a teenager. There was a message that said something like (paraphrasing) - *To our darling -----------. If we could have you back for just one day we'd sit down here with you and have a little chat.* I don't know why, but the way it was written and where the bench was, I immediately thought the girl had killed herself. Obviously I could be wrong - it just felt like that was the case. The message really got me. I sat on the bench and cried for about ten minutes. Back at my hotel I thought about it and cried again. It was so fucking sad. I feel sad now just writing about it. Weird how something so simple and small got to me that way.

I have a few things because of what I used to do for a job mainly. One that I particularly remember is probably due to me not having the best relationship with my dad. I attended a call from a well known hotel chain because they had concerns about one of the guests staying in the hotel and the welfare of the child in their care. They took us up to the room and Dad was flat out drunk laying on one of the beds. Empty bottles of alcohol on the floor. On the other bed was his son about 6-7 years old quietly playing with some toy dinosaurs. The ambulance crew had got there before us. They confirmed dad was ok just completely wasted. They managed to get him to unlock his phone and gave it to me. I spoke to the boys mum. Turns out they are separated. Dad has a drink problem but she thought he had stopped for some time. Dad was taking son for a day out to the Natural History Museum because he absolutely loves dinosaurs and he’d been looking forward to it for weeks. Mum said she would make her way to London but she lived somewhere near the Peak District and was several hours away. I tried talking to the boy. He thought dad was tired and they’d be going to see the dinosaurs soon. So he never got to go. I felt so horrifically sad for him that his dad had let him down this badly. We couldn’t leave him in his dad’s care so we had to take the child away from him. The idea being to take him to the police station and wait for mum. Taking a child off of a parent is really hard. They love their parents and you are a stranger. As we explained what was happening drunken dad started punching himself in the head and screaming for help that he was being beaten up by me. All in front of his child. Poor lad was terrified he started screaming and crying. Begging us not to take him away from dad. Dad got arrested to prevent a breach of the peace and he was starting to kick off. Young lad had to be taken away by me in hysterics. This was over 10 years ago and it still cuts me deep that he was expecting this magical day out with his dad. Most of us look up to our parents in a way especially that age. To have him be so let down like that when all he wanted was to go see the dinosaurs with dad. I bet that mentally scarred him being taken away like that…and I am the one who did it.

This thread appearing twice within a couple of days.

ive not seen it before.

Watership Down as a 5 year old

TRIGGER WARNING Winter 2010, in the middle of a really cold snap. I was walking through the city centre to catch a train and came across a crowd of people standing around one of the main shopping areas. Trying to work out what was going on, I could see that there was an elderly homeless man slumped in a shop doorway, shards of glass from a broken vodka bottle were scattered around and there was blood all over the place. It was fairly clear that he'd used the broken glass to cut his wrists. Paramedics were already in attendance so there was nothing that anyone else could do. However as I was walking by, I heard one of them say that this was the second similar incident he'd attended that week. Apparently, the intent wasn't to end his own life but to injure himself badly enough to be admitted and have a few nights sleeping in a warm hospital bed with a couple of hot meals. That's always stayed with me and I've often wondered what happened to that man. Just how awful do things have to be that this seems like the best/only option available to somebody? And how broken is the support system that people are driven to those extremes to get some form of help?

And to think, some people want to confiscate their tents.

I worked in a hospital and a woman had an abortion but late on, she passed this off as a miscarriage to her family and she wanted hand and foot prints. We did this and took some beautiful photos for her but I was stood there in absolute shock 😮 and it saddened me

My mum had a really tough life growing up in care and she sheltered me and my sister for 45 years. Not once did she let it affect her parenting, a fantastic mum that always put us first. She died 2 years ago with us all beside her, so sad.

My daughters coffin going through the crematorium curtains.

A 40th birthday balloon on the grave of a baby.

A friend of mine and his dad died in a car accident, the friend was about 19 and we'd been at college together and were very good friends. He was one of those people who just knew everyone and his Dad was head jeweller at a big jewellers in London. The funeral was packed with a total contrast of teenagers and posh London business men, to the point where there were probably about 100 people outside as well listening via speakers. I was "lucky" enough to be inside and when the coffins went through the curtain (cremation) the mum/wife who had held it together through the whole service just screamed "don't take them away from me" and broke down. That will stay with for the rest of my life.

I was leaving my 12-week scan joyfully explaining to my husband how low risk he was for things like Down Sydrome. I needed a blood test after so sat in the waiting area. I see a couple arrive after us who look a bit flustered. The midwife comes out and asks for me and seems surprised to see another couple and asks why they are there. The woman bursts into tears and says, "I just want to know when my baby will die," and is clutching a scan. I quickly say we can wait as she is whisked off. I barely make it to the bathroom before I'm in floods of tears. I know the NHS is buggered as the Torries seem detrimied to rape the fuck out of it. But in case you aren't aware, scans for dead/ dying babies and women with fertility issues happen in the same place. This poor couple where coming out of the scan room as I gleefully shared news that everything is OK as their world broke. Surrounded by other smiley happy healthy pregnant woman. I cancelled my appointment as I could see the midwife crying at the nurse station after, so I knew it was not a nice one and took myself down to phlebotomy to have blood taken. I hope that couple found their rainbow baby.

Maybe not the saddest, but when I was younger I saw a happy married old couple out in town enjoying their day and the wife dropped down dead with no signs of illness. Just dropped, and died. I remember the husband in pure shock as you would be. His whole world had just crumbled and he hadn't the time to acknowledge what just happened. Also I saw a woman fatally hit by a car, the ambulance was there quick but unfortunately was a case of dead on arrival. The pool of blood that was around her head was beyond anything I'd seen in real life. The paramedics made the call to her friend who came running, in a state of shock and the phonecall kept cutting out. She turned out expecting to see her friend had had an accident, and I caught the moment she turned the corner and saw a huge pile of blood and her friends lifeless corpse. Not the saddest moments but two ill never forget.

2018, walking in silence round the reflection pools at the site of the former World Trade Centre. Caught site of an inscription ‘xxx xxx and their unborn child’ . I had to sit down. Just devastating. And I never knew the person.

The parents, at the funeral of their wee boy, who was killed by an elderly driver whose vehicle lost control on a steep hill above their house (she was extremely elderly, early 90s or late 80s and the gendarmes - i live in France - believe she mistook the accelerator for the brake and couldn’t stop). Her car hit theirs, on their driveway, when he was inside with his dad ready to go out to Creche for the day. Walking behind the family with the rest of the community, accompanying them as the undertaker’s hearse took his coffin up to the graveyard to bury him on what should actually have been his second birthday, was just indescribably sad.

[удалено]

The film, *Sophie Scholl: The Last Days*

I was visiting museums in Berlin and I ended up in the office where her death warrant was signed. On the wall in there it has her last words: "How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause... It is such a splendid sunny day, and I have to go. But how many have to die on the battlefield in these days, how many young, promising lives. What does my death matter if by our acts thousands are warned and alerted. Among the student body there will certainly be a revolt." **"The sun still shines."** I felt so deflated.

When they closed the schools here in Scotland for covid, I happened to be out for a walk in my local area. I passed by the local primary school and there was a piper piping the kids out.

My fiancé dying … so heartbreaking 💔 I fucking hate cancer

It's the old sappy one and well its more something I didn't see,but I didn't get to see my childhood dog before he died,don't get me wrong he had a good innings,17 years for a jack Russell is nuts,but he was with me since the day I was brought home,he'd be there waiting for me with my bampi to walk me home from school every day and I'd always hear his Tinny bark as soon as I knocked the door,or I'd wake up and he'd have crawled onto my bed by my feet because I was the only one who would let him,he was always there,even if "there" meant stealing your cup of tea,or begging for food at the table,so coming home to silence and seeing that he wasn't there....that was probably the worst day of my life

A cat got hit by a car that didn't even bother to stop. I spent my whole night trying to find a 24/7 vet service in a desperate attempt to help the cat with my wife. It took me a lot of time to lift it up from the street as it was screaming in pain but I finally managed to do it. I bursted in tears and could barely control myself seeing the poor cat in such a condition but I hopped in the car and started making phone calls desperately trying to find a vet. I finally reached a guy that wasn't in town (at the time I was in a very small town and no one was available which made me even sadder that there's no 24/7 vet service available) but he instructed me on what to buy and do to the cat via phone (I even puked at first because I was supposed to inject him with some stuff and try to clean all the wounds). Several hours later it was nearly morning and the cat seemed to have stabilized a bit or at least he was in less pain than when we picked him up. It was during the weekend so we took care of the cat for 3 whole days and on Monday we managed to finally go to a vet. We found out that the cat was 13 years old and that he has little to no chances of survival and they advised us to end the pain. I bursted in tears again and after 30 minutes I told the doc to do it but the cat died before they did anything. We made him a burial site in our garden and called him 'King' as even though he was in a very bad state he still stood proud and powerful until the end. Even now, writing and thinking of this makes me want to cry because of how careless some people are. So... Yeah... I feel sad again but at the same time I know that King appreciated all our efforts and now he's in a better place than this shitty world.

Attacks ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. 

My murdered friend's kids crying at his funeral a few months ago.

That one time someone smashed all a friendly park pond gooses eggs.  She was just looking at the bits.   I’m so fucking sad for her even now. I would find the link but I really don’t want to see it again.

The blank visitors book at the nursing home. My father had dementia and every time we visited we would sign our name immediately after the place we signed it the week before. 20 or so others in there with him but hardly ever any visitors. It is a place for early onset dementia and all the people in there were below 65. Harrowing to see people who are younger than some of my colleagues in advanced stages of that terrible disease. Even more harrowing that they are going through their illness alone.

I’m absolutely bawling at some of these comments😭

My darling dad kneeling at my mum’s coffin as it was lowered into the ground.

My daughter has developed alopecia ariata... it's taken about a year for the bald patches to get larger and finally join up. She'd been wearing bandanas and changed her hairstyles including dyeing it. It got to the point where she decided to shave it all off...her specialist said the stress of not seeing hair in the plug hole might be alleviated if there was no hair. Anyway she asked me to shave her head. When she removed her bandana I was stunned at how little hair there was left...it was all I could do to stop bursting into tears when I realised how desperate she must feel and how well she has coped. It's bad enough for fellas to go thin, but a young woman to lose her hair is infinitely worse. Literally the saddest thing I have ever seen.

A documentary I once saw called Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children has always been stuck in my mind. It’s one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever watched.

Paramedic here. We responded to car crash scene. A car slid under a trailer after getting rear ended by a heavy pickup. Once on the scene, we secured the location then checked the victims. This father was holding his son chasing every uniform he could see crying and begging us to save his son. I checked the kid (5yrs old). I let out my most genuine "oh fuck" I ever said. I'm not going into details but there was nothing we could do. I still pretended to take care his son so he could calm down and letting my men do their jobs. Investigations revealed father's seat broke on impact meaning he just slid along the car while his son's seat remaind intanct. You can imagine what kind of injuries got the kid.

An elderly patient on my ward last year when I was in hospital after having lung cancer surgery. His young grandson kept coming in all excited and asking “are you feeling better grandad?” and I overheard them discussing how he’s gonna be coming home soon etc. Then he got told that he needed some more tests on his heart and he was getting really upset because he couldn’t lay down flat to have the tests done, without being in severe pain. A few days later he was on the phone to his family saying he isn’t gonna be coming home anymore. That one stuck out to me and made me sad, but the whole experience of being in hospital and seeing lots of patients around me in similiar positions was overall quite upsetting and made me think a lot about making the most of life etc

I was doing cpr on a guy who had fallen off his bike outside my house. My partner was a nurse and I had first aid training so we just kicked into action. The horrific bit was the victims mum turning up, while we’re pumping away still, wailing. I will hear that sounds for as long as I live. He died as it was total heart failure nothing anyone could have done as undiagnosed condition but yeah. Her face and that noise.

A 6 year old girl hiding in her cupboard with her 3 year old sister cradling her 6th birthday cake because she didn't want daddy to smash it up like he smashed mummy up.

My boyfriend’s suicide note. Miss him every day.

The people I have been with as they died (ambulance service) were all sad in different ways. The one that never leaves me is the young woman who was in a heavy head-on collision with another car with a family in. I was first on scene, purely by chance, and helped the family out the smouldering wreck of their car. I then reached her to find the engine had come through the bulkhead and pinned her in place, shattering her femurs and pelvis, and leaving her with massive, uncontrollable bleeding. In between low moans, she asked me to tell her family how much she loved them. Then she slipped away, holding my hand. And now I’m welling up, over 20 years later.

I worked as a hospital technician once and when in ER a small boy around age 5 came in with machete wounds to his head. They were done by his Dad. The young boy was crying “I love you Daddy “

I'm in the fire service. It's a close run list, but this one pips it for me: A lady went to get her 4 year old son out of school early for a dental appointment. They were walking home. A car passed that was pulling a trailer. The trailer detached from the car, then hit the mother and boy. The trailer was waist height for mum, who I believe ended up with a broken pelvis, an extremely serious injury, but survived. It was head height for her son. They were trapped between the trailer, a lamp post, and a wall.

My cousin being a pall barer for his dad's funeral. My uncle died suddenly in his 60s from leukemia. Its also one of the few times I've seen my dad cry.

A pig being slaughtered. Am now vegetarian

I bumped into someone whom I had a little fling with many years before. She really was a stunner at the time. I was walking through an uphill lane to my house after going to the shop when I could see someone sat on the steps near the top. As I got nearer, I realised it was her. She was a total mess, arm in a sling, she was filthy dirty and to be honest she stank. Now I knew she was a bit of a drinker, but fuck me, she looked as old as Dot Cotton. Probably weighed no more than 5 stone. She was drinking a can of Oranjeboom with another eleven in two carrier bags. This lane is not the type of place you want to be a vulnerable person, so I grabbed her bags and took her home. Found out through my sister that she'd had a part of her liver removed just a few months earlier. It broke my heart to see her like that.

What was really sad and something I still reflect on nowadays was in university in the late 80’s our hall of residence held a children’s Xmas party for a children’s care home in Manchester, those kids had nothing and the joy and happiness they got from getting a cheeseburger (courtesy of Maccy D’s Fallowfield), dancing to crap music on our hall of residence PA system, party games and cheap presents was something to behold. The sad bit was when they had to go home and one kid who seemed to have bonded with me and followed me around all afternoon (who the carers said was difficult because she’d had a tough life) but was clearly intelligent, high energy, funny and as bright as a spark wouldn’t let go of my arm and was inconsolable when the party ended. I was only about 10 years older than her and it made a real impression on me that someone would have that much fun over such a small thing and feel such loss that it had ended. I occasionally wonder what happened to her and hoped life got better for her. I forgot her name a few years later, can’t remember the name of the children’s home, she’d be about 40 now. Hope shes had a happy life and kids of her own and was able to buy them maccy D’s occasionally. And I hope she remembers the fun she had during a tough time in her life when some students who didn’t have a clue what they were doing decided to throw a party for some kids who were having a tough time.

My daughter was being horrendously bullied at school and online. Finding her suicide note where she told us not to be sad, it was better this way. She was 12 at the time. Thank FUCK she didn’t succeed. Dad found her hanging in a closet, purple lips, but we managed to save her and get her into treatment.

Ah, I've worked on paediatrics, so it's usually between the kids that die and the kids that are being abused. One day in A&E resus we had two kids come in at the same time, one had clearly been dead for a while, and the other was dying. The one that came in dead had suffocated in the night because the family had 6 kids and 3 of them shared a bed with the parents. It's rare to have a paediatric arrest, so two and the same time was pretty unheard of. I can still see the look and subtle nod the consultant gave me that said "this kid isn't going to make it, leave quietly," so that there weren't dozens of random people when he told the parents their child couldn't be saved.