18 June 2012

Another one bites the dust

Yesterday I took Snoopy for an early-morning walk around the block and on my way back along the main road I saw an elderly neighbour and his wife walking very slowly arm in arm towards me on the other side of the road. Because of the wide road and traffic between us, no words were exchanged, but we waved at each other (although the wife stared fixedly at the ground) and he did a thumbs-down sign at me. My heart sank. Their grown-up daughter is an alcoholic, has been in and out of hospital like Greg. Last week she was given days to live. Her liver and kidneys had failed and her heart was labouring. She was on life-support. I deduce the thumbs-down sign meant she had lost her battle. She leaves an 18-year-old son to fend for himself. Alcohol has claimed yet another victim. Such a bloody awful disease. Such a bloody awful shame.

8 comments:

Furtheron said...

What a waste indeed. Thank you for a reminder why it is good I try to walk the path I now walk

AGuidingLife said...

This makes me sad and also a little bit angry. It's time medicine started to understand what's happening in the brain with dependencies and people stopped dying.

Nota Bene said...

How very, very sad, no parent should see their child die for whatever reason

Flowerpot said...

That is so sad, I'm so very sorry.

Elizabeth said...

Heartbreaking

Anonymous said...

...and such a dreadful waste of life. Awful.

CJ x

Anonymous said...

Yes, how awful. It does that sort of thing.

But some people do find sobriety.

Doglover

Jade Golden said...

As a newly sober alcoholic your blog is both heart wrenching and inspirational. I'm so sorry that you had to lose your husband to this disease and your point of view is a reminder of how much pain and heart break I have put my loved ones through and how much more I have spared them by getting sober. Thank you for your honesty.