Heartbreaking

[10ClarionSt]

I'm sure everyone has a tale, or knows of a family who were fated with bad luck. Watching Long Lost Family reminded me of my wifes' friend. She was 32, happily married with three children in junior school, one girl and two boys, husband had a really good job, then fate struck when she had two heart attacks in quick succession. She was in hospital for several weeks and hubby was left to look after the children. She came out of hospital but two weeks later had a stroke that left her in a coma for three years. During that time, her husband found it too stressful to handle everything so he put the children in care and left. His wife didn't know anything about it, obviously. The children were distraught and weren't allowed to visit their mother. Eventually, she came out of the coma and asked to see her family. Can you imagine the heartbreak when she found out that her husband had left her a long time ago and she couldn't see her children? The stroke had left her paralyzed from the waist down. It took another three years before she got to see the two boys. They had been fostered but she couldn't see her daughter as she had been adopted. She eventually got to see her daughter but by this time she barely knew her as she was now a young woman. The fickle hand of fate. Sad, eh?

[Mamyalynne]

Life deals some a desperately poor hand, sad indeed.

[Sqad]

Clarion it is said....very sad....but it is almost a definition of life.
It isn't so much as the hand that you are dealt, but the way in which you play your hand.

[Butterbun]

A very sad tale. I hope her children continue to visit her to give her some little joy in her life.

[aelmpvw]

this sad story sticks in my mind ...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060179/Armistice-Day-2011-The-mother-lost-sons-WW1.html

[Lie-in King]

That is very sad, 10C - are the mum & kids still in contact with each other?

[Smowball]

That's desperately sad. Life can be very cruel sometimes, which is why we should really try and make the most of every moment, as cliched as that sounds.

[Ellipsis]

> her husband found it too stressful to handle everything so he put the children in care and left

Almost the worst thing that he could have done, bar killing them or himself. Could he not get help e.g. from family or close friends (godparents)?

BTW I'm not religious at all but am a godparent and would absolutely have stepped in to help my godchildren in these circumstances.

[hereIam]

Poor soul.