Have you ever been really affected by the death of a stranger?

[Hightideattheseaside]

A person I follow on Instagram very sadly lost their 3 year old son a couple of days ago and it’s really affected me. I keep thinking about the pain this poor person must be in and imagining myself in their shoes. Perhaps it’s because I also have a three year old son or perhaps it’s an inevitable consequence of following people who share so much of their lives for a long time. I have never met or spoken to this person, only see a post or story from them a few times a week for a couple of years. And, yet, I keep crying throughout the day at the thought of that darling boy and his poor mother left behind. I feel real pain for this person. It’s shocked me to be honest.

Any one else felt very affected by the death of stranger? Is this to be expected when we follow people on social media or have I lost it a bit?

I hear ya. I’ve been looking out for a post about Jaxon
Watching him develop into such a funny little boy … his personality and intelligence coming thru … never expected him to die
Poor Kaytee. He’s been on my mind a lot

Sorry wrong thread. Have reported.

That little boy who fell down the well in Spain, haunts me, and I don't know why. Maybe it's because I have a wee girl who is a similar age to what he was, or the idea that he was crying for his Mum for a short while after, and I think of him being alone, Just breaks my heart. 😭😭😭

A work colleague was pregnant at the same time as me. Remember after the mayhem of birth and newborn haze asking dh as x must have her baby by now. Remember he and mum exchanging looks and fudging then admitting my colleagues baby died in labour. Cried at that.

Also the young Cambridge graduates killed by that terrorist idiot. Top of the tree young people who must have worked so hard and chosen to try to do good just slaughtered like that. Their poor parents. Get why the newsreader cried reading the juries statement about them.

Yes, as a child the woman who lived across the landing in our small block killed herself one summer and the body wasn't discovered for some weeks. She was mentally ill and I think I won't ever fully get past it - not without therapy anyway. Probably because I was 6 or 7 at the time so it affected me a lot.

@giftswap2020 I was thinking of Julen the other day. He was the second son that they had lost. Heartbreaking.

Yes. PC Sharon Beshenivskiy.

I was a fairly young in service police officer when she was murdered. I heard the news on the radio driving home from work, and absolutely sobbed at the wheel of the car.

What happened to her could have been any one of my colleagues or me. I think it's the first time my own mortality hit me, along with the horror of what happened.

All the Manchester deaths were awful but for some reason the one that really affected me was Eilidh MacLeod who had travelled from Barra in the Hebrides for the gig. My mum was very protective and wouldn’t allow me to go to gigs when I was that age, and I think of her mum being worried but allowing her to have that adventure, and of losing her in such a dreadful way. The scenes of her return to the island and her funeral procession make me cry every time I see them.

For me it was a young teenager who got knocked down while crossing the road on a local high street. I was on the bus on the way home from work when it got stopped and we all had to get off. I was with a colleague and we asked someone if they knew what had happened and they said 'there's a girl under that lorry'. Those words have stayed with me years later, I remember going home and checking the local news over and over through the evening and was devastated when I found out she'd died. I still get teary when I think of it, and how her poor parents had no idea that when she left the house that day that she wouldn't return. Utterly heartbreaking.

When I was 16 I was outside my friend's house waiting for her when a man a few houses down came out his house followed by his wife screaming at him. She slammed the door and he walked right past me - I didn't know what to say. I found out the next day he'd jumped to his death within an hour. Still haven't fully forgave myself for not intervening somehow, daft I know.

I cried buckets when I’d heard of this lonely elderly man with no family who had a mobility scooter. He gave a young homeless man a room. The young thug started to terrorise the old man who wanted him out of his flat. Anyway the thug with his mate followed the old man. They robbed and battered him. Old man died in hospital. He had copd And weighed less than five stones.

Oh no, I followed Jaxons story on Instagram but haven't been on for a while

Yes, a baby boy who was tragically killed by an unlicensed, uninsured driver (who then ran from the scene) recently in my town. His mum is only 18 and his dad not much older but they were so incredibly dignified in the aftermath, it was heartbreaking seeing how hard they tried to make sure their boy was remembered.

I lost a friend in May 1980, he came off the back of a motorbike, aged 17. His was the first funeral I ever went to and I’ve never forgotten it. His Dm was hysterical and tried to open the coffin in the church, poor, poor lady, her grief was unbearable.
Every May, I think of him, particularly if it’s a sunny day, as that’s when I heard about him dying.
I’m surprised that I still remember all the details even after 41 years. I’ve lost members of my family that haven’t affected me like his death has. Perhaps it’s because I was so young (15) or because of seeing his Dm so upset.

@Weirdfan

Yes, a baby boy who was tragically killed by an unlicensed, uninsured driver (who then ran from the scene) recently in my town. His mum is only 18 and his dad not much older but they were so incredibly dignified in the aftermath, it was heartbreaking seeing how hard they tried to make sure their boy was remembered.

I remember reading that story in the news, it was just so incredibly unfair. A few seconds either way and they would still have their child.

@OhToBeASeahorse

Baby Brianna. There are periods where I've cried every day for her.

I genuinely couldn't eat or sleep properly for days when I read what happend to her. Brianna and Baby P both effected me really deeply. I wish I could scrub it from my brain to be honest.

That is exactly how I feel forged I wish it could be erased from my brain. Yet I’m always drawn to read these news stories. What happened to Ellie Butler was horrific, And I’ve not ever managed to forget those news reports. Maybe as a PP said, it’s part of being human.

Poppi Worthington

Poor Emily Jones in Bolton. It was just the utter randomness of it, I think, and the idea that a perfectly normal day with your child in the park could turn to unimaginable horror in a split second. I have a daughter a couple of years younger than Emily was (also an only child) and I cannot imagine the hell her parents must still be living in. I think of them a lot.

Julen Roselló, he was two when he fell down an illegal shaft in Málaga. It took 9 days to get to him and I just couldn't even imagine the pain the parents must have been in.

My own son was about 6m at the time and I would check for an update every time I got up in the night to feed him. I was obsessed and it really got to me. I cried quite a lot when he was found, I was really hoping he would still be alive.

Poppy Worthington- I was pregnant when the news story came on in my work kitchen. I just burst into tears and ran to the bathroom.

I avoid the news now, the word is such an awful place sometimes.

Alice Ruggles got me for a long time. The documentary on how the police worked to catch her killer was quite remarkable

Expat in Scotlands dd Aillidh affected me - ex pat was so so strong, so sad for her family when she didn't make it.

Mrs Deveres Billie tooM

Anton Yelchin. That freak accident was so senseless, I couldn't stop thinking about it for days.

For those that don't know, the brake on his jeep failed, causing it to roll down his steep drive and trap him between the car and his gate. He was probably alive and conscious for hours, trapped there unable to escape, until he eventually died from his injuries.