Bad news on Facebook

Private Beach - I painted this years ago and it was my friend's favorite painting.
Canada
February 24, 2010 4:01pm CST
To me, Facebook was a fun place to get to meet people, play games and try to get in touch with friends you havent seen in a long time......until today. Last night I had a message on Facebook, someone I couldnt recognize from the picture was asking if I really was who I said I was. Yes I replied and asked who they were!! This morning I had a reply. She was the daughter of a girl I went to school with and remained friends over the years. I know her 2 kids and we've been to each other's houses over and over until her divorce. She felt she had to keep her distance since I knew her husband well..we also went to school together. Well the daughter tells me she'd been trying to get in touch with me for a while to let me know her mom died last year . I kept reading her message over and over and it wasnt making sense. How can someone my age be dead already? I just sat there for about 15 mins, not knowing what to say or do. Yes Facebook is a nice place to find old friends and keep in touch with family, but sometimes it can bring very sad news. Have you ever been the receiver or the giver of bad news on Facebook before?
3 people like this
3 responses
• Philippines
24 Feb 10
However you receive a bad news, it's still really difficult to take in. Receiving, I think, is as hard as giving bad or sad news, especially if you are attached or at a point in time, been really close to that person. On February 10, Wednesday, my fiancee's older sister passed away due to various illnesses she acquired and been battling for almost 10 years. I've seen her in pain and in suffering for the last 6 years of her life. She surpassed a couple of surgeries, tests, going in and out of different hospitals, taking in various medicines in a lot of different ways, but never had I seen her so down and defeated until that Sunday, February 7, when she's in Intensive Care Unit with different tubes attached to different machines: respirator, ventilator - I didn't even know what those were for until then. My fiancee and I never get to bid her goodbye. It was a day after she passed on that we had a courage to inform our friends in Facebook about what happened. The hospital bill sky-rocketed to more than half a million Philippine peso and we asked, and are still asking, for help from anyone, especially the government with regard to this. We had her remains cremated because it's cheaper. The family wants the urn to be put in a columbarium, but it's still costly. My fiancee and I are doing our best t help out, though.
• Canada
25 Feb 10
You have all my sympathies personaave!! Not only did you have to go through this terrible ordeal of watching her suffer through her illness but to know it has to be all paid for. At least here we have free medicare, so its not a burden on the family. I sure hope you'll manage to get through this. Thank you!
• Philippines
25 Feb 10
I'm sorry for your loss..and thanks for expressing sympathy. I know that in time we'll get through this ordeal.. We also have health insurance here but she wasn't able to get one because of 'pre-existing condition' which insurance companies do not cover. She passed on at age 29.
1 person likes this
• Canada
25 Feb 10
Thank you personaave, wow, 29 is young to die. Yes we'll get through this eventually.
• United States
25 Feb 10
i havent receive any bad news in my facebook account. And if so, i dont know what to do or how will i react then.
1 person likes this
• Canada
25 Feb 10
Hello Yellowteeth!! You're right, we never know how we'll react until it happens to us. I used to think I could take news rather well. Seems Im not that good at it. Thanks for your reply!....oh and Welcome to Mylot!!
@Downwindz (2537)
• Netherlands
24 Feb 10
Im very sorry for your loss, it makes you think alot over the things you have accomplished allready in life because life is just so fragile and yet so strong. Im so lucky i havent had to recieve or give bad news yet on Facebook.
1 person likes this
• Canada
25 Feb 10
Thank you Downwindz!! Im sorry we had been out of touch for a couple of years. I keep thinking I should have, I should have but didnt. Life is short and you're right, we need to life it to the fullest now and tell our loved ones that we DO love them.