by Angela Suttner The night of December 21, 2016, my family’s life forever changed. We lost our son, Kenneth Louis Suttner, to bullycide. My husband and I planned our child’s funeral three days before Christmas. Kenny was only seventeen years old, and it made national news. Nearly six years later, I still think about […]
by Amber Bradbury One midsummer night on July 1, 2013, life as I knew it shattered. All it took was a knock on my door. Behind it stood two police officers sadly notifying me, the “next of kin,” that my mom was the victim of a fatal knife attack by her mentally deranged neighbor. […]
by Bianca Zimperi “Our lives will never be the same without our Lisa.” Those were the words written by my mom as she sat at our kitchen table in disbelief after ten shocking days in the ICU. She was struggling to understand how she found herself having to write an obituary for her beautiful […]
by Jamie Stewart It’s hard to believe one moment can change your life — that one moment can shatter your world. I was uneasy sitting in my chair, waiting to get called into the ultrasound room. I always got a little anxious prior to our appointments. The nervousness was definitely trumped by excitement, considering […]
by Lydia Alvidrez This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255. Nicholas (Nick) Ruiz, my only child; was 16-years-old when he took his own life. He was a junior in high school and a good student. He loved […]
by Naomi Matthams My name is Naomi, and I lost my mum to ovarian cancer in January 2014, five years after being diagnosed with the cruel disease. My mum was only 64 when she died and left behind my dad, brother, and me, as well as a wider family and lots of very good […]
by Isabelle Sharman In the summer of 2020, I met the love of my life. I didn’t know it at the time, but he was about to become my best friend, my safe place, and my guiding light. My perpetually single and independent self would have scoffed at those words a few years prior, […]
by Paula Griffith I miss seeing Chanell at the door, waiting for me to come home. She had the most magnetic smile and was the glue that held us together. She was very petite but had the heart of gold. Chanell was fearless and was willing to try anything. She wanted to play basketball; she […]
by Katja Faber When my eldest son was brutally killed in December 2014, the emotional pain was indescribable. I was overwhelmed and couldn’t take it in. There was no respite from the anguish, and each breath tore into me like a knife. There are gaps in my memory regarding those times. Perhaps the blackouts […]
by Brooke Carlock I’m not sure exactly when I became a resilient person. My mother described me as a whip-smart, confident and headstrong toddler. But something shifted in my elementary-school years. My parents dragged my four siblings and I through a particularly messy divorce that took years to finalize. My mother, scorned by my […]
