Your Stories
My Story - Lauren
Posted by Top Livin on
Growing up I knew that there was happiness, sadness and when it was our time to go, that was just fate. Never did I realise that once I had my late teens that I would be experiencing uncontrollable sadness and end up the one trying to decide my own fate by attempting to take my own life. This story, although being my own, brings up feelings of pain, yet at the same time a sense of strength that I never knew that I had. And I never thought I would be here to tell it. I grew up active,...
My Story - Jake
Posted by Top Livin on
It all started during the month of August 2016 when I was at the lowest point of my life. After suffering in silence for many years and never talking about the severity of my depression and anxiety, I needed help and I needed it fast. The suicidal thoughts became overpowering so I reached out to my older brother Ben - who instantly took me under his wing and away from the lonely environment I was living in. After a month of eating well, when I had a slightly improved mindset, Ben informed me that he had signed me up for...
MY SON'S STORY - MARY
Posted by Top Livin on
My son Joseph ‘Joe’ Sutton was diagnosed with Crohns Disease at the age of 16. He had emergency admission followed by hospitalisation for nearly two weeks with tests, scans, colonoscopies, blood tests and the list goes on before diagnosis. He had a mass tumour and perforation in his bowel. We were advised it was a ruptured appendix to cancer. This is a scary process for anyone to go through especially a 16 year old male. Joseph lost a lot of weight rapidly prior and during the emergency hospital stay. He was very unwell. Upon diagnosis of Crohns disease, Joseph then...
MY STORY - ZACHARY
Posted by Top Livin on
My father was an addict, paranoid schizophrenic, chronic hoarder and a drug dealer. Life in his home was one of extreme boredom, regular physical and emotional neglect punctuated with occasional moments of terror. The clientele my father supplied were desperate and volatile. They would pop in on a daily basis offering cash or barter in exchange for their next hit. As a young boy, it fell on me to both mind my younger brother as well as keep them occupied whilst my father ‘got the stuff’. I remember this being my role all throughout my childhood and into my early...
MY STORY - RICHARD
Posted by Top Livin on
My father Michael Kerrigan was a successful television director, who was the life and soul of the party and always lived life to the fullest. He thrived off the buzz of live television and the passion he showed was infectious. I witnessed this first hand one summer after working for him as a runner on set. I loved seeing him work in the gallery behind the scenes during live shows. He often said it was like a conductor leading an orchestra. From an outsider looking in, dad had it all—a loving family, a nice home and a successful career. But...