How Do You Sleep?

When you lose a child the last thing you want or need is to be reminded of the pain and loss every time you pick up the paper. Unfortunately the staff at (another paper) seems to think that is necessary to continuously publish information about my son or stories that have to do with our loss.

My whole life changed with the passing of my precious child. I can’t eat, sleep or even concentrate most of the time. We are trying really hard to keep our family moving forward because that’s what Matt would want.

When I opened the (other newspaper) this week, I was in absolute shock… not only at the interview with Jesse Tobin (and her role as Roger), but also at the headline of the story. Of all the people in the play that could have been interviewed, the (other newspaper) staff had to choose the one person that would bring up the tragedy of my family and our community, and rub it in ALL of our faces. (Jesse, I am proud of you and Matt would have been too.)

The (other newspaper) could have interviewed Ben Heart, instead… who plays Danny Zuko (whom they left out of the previous week’s article even though he plays the lead role). They could have interviewed any of the other members of the cast. But NO! They chose to bring up the painful loss of MY son to sell their newspaper. Maybe the (other newspaper) should think about the people they are hurting instead of the money they will make. My children are hurting. They DO NOT need to (nor should they have to) keep being reminded of the pain of losing their brother.
The community is hurting. Matt had many friends in this community. Each time a story is printed, the entire community is kicked in the gut.

We are a very close family and a close community. I commend all the kids for being able to go on and continue the performance of Grease. I am proud of the community for reaching out to support these kids and the hardship it brings when one of their friends is taken from them as well.

To the staff at (another newspaper): Money is not worth it in the long run. I wonder how you sleep at night.