Posts by: Colin Balfe

Colin Balfe is the Founder and Chief Content Officer of Love What Matters. Colin was inspired to start Love What Matters after his mother passed from Ovarian cancer. Through his grieving process, he saw the need to connect a like minded community around a deeply personal storytelling platform. He's proudest of the communities within LWM, strangers united by powerful and impactful experiences, underserved people connecting around mutual challenges, hopes and dreams. These communities include Adoption, Mental Health, Infertility, Addiction, Grief, Special Needs Parenting, LGBTQ+ and many more.

‘That word changed my entire life. ‘There are no known cures.’ I would never ‘get better.’: Woman diagnosed with Gastroparesis, Elher’s Danlos Syndrome, ‘I’m going to enjoy the life I have’

“I was on a fully liquid diet and throwing up daily. I felt like the world was judging me for not being ‘normal.’ I genuinely thought I might starve to death. No one can tell me what my life will look like in five years.”

Published by Colin Balfe - Jan 31, 2019

‘Many of Micah’s behaviors are out of the ordinary and at times downright bizarre. The reactions of others to Micah and his antics have been varied.’

“I suspect most parents have an inner radar that measures the character of others by the way they treat our children, but this is especially true for those of us who are parents of children with special needs.”

Published by Colin Balfe - Jan 30, 2019

‘Hey Sweetheart, how ya doing?’ No one had to tell me, I knew what killed him.’: Woman’s dad loses battle with addiction, ‘He was so much more than an addict to me’

“At 10:30 in the morning my husband called me from my school’s parking lot. He was there to pick me up. I collapsed in front of my students and wept. Two 14-year-old girls picked me up off the floor and walked me out of my school. He was loved. He was wanted. He was needed. I needed him.”

Published by Colin Balfe - Jan 30, 2019

‘We’d lie in bed with our backs towards each other. My husband got more comfortable on the couch than in our bed.’: After struggling with infertility, couple rediscovers intimacy

“We would sit there in our room, phones in our hands. We ended our time together with a simple, ‘goodnight.’ Intimacy no longer existed. When people ask us how we first met, we always tell them, ‘it’s a funny story.’ And really, in a way, it kind of is.”

Published by Colin Balfe - Jan 30, 2019

‘We started seeing a fertility specialist when I was 33-years-old. My levels were, as my doctor put it, ‘that of a 48-year-old.’ One egg was actually black in color.’

“I’ll never forget the phone call from our doctor. She said, ‘I’m so sorry Victoria, your donor really is like you, even her eggs are like yours.'”

Published by Colin Balfe - Jan 29, 2019

‘They can’t do anything else? That’s the only option?,’ people asked me shocked, wide eyes. Making the decision to saw off a part of my body wasn’t something I planned on.’

“I took a bad tumble off a horse when I was a kid. My greatest fear was that I’d awaken from anesthesia – and realize with sinking certainty I had made a horrible, irreversible mistake.”

Published by Colin Balfe - Jan 29, 2019

‘I remember that day so vividly. You called me, asked me very calmly to come home so we could talk as a family. I knew.’

“I ran to my best friend down the street, collapsed in their driveway, and part of me never got up.”

Published by Colin Balfe - Jan 29, 2019

‘It sounded like a freight train coming towards us. I swung open my door and began to run. When I finally broke out of the fire, I saw my crewmates were not behind me. I woke up a month later.’

“I ran up to one of the fire engines to look at myself in the mirror, but a firefighter pulled me away. They wouldn’t allow me to look at myself. I knew right then it must have been bad. Soon after that, it all went black.”

Published by Colin Balfe - Jan 28, 2019

‘It’s all in your head. You just need to be happier. Go take a walk, be a ‘normal’ 20-something.’ I had just woken up, still bleary-eyed from anesthesia. These were the words my doctor said to me.’

“I laid there and sobbed, how could it have come back normal? After hearing enough doctors downplay my symptoms, watching them roll their eyes as they told me it was ‘just gas,’ I stopped telling anyone how miserable I was.”

Published by Colin Balfe - Jan 28, 2019

‘I’m worried about him getting this surgery. He doesn’t need to do this.’ I remember them telling me, ‘Just focus on your breathing,’ as they put the mask on me, and I was put to sleep.’

“The doctors said to my mother, ‘It’s time for you to say your goodbyes, there is really nothing else we could do.’ Up until this point, my mom had always been on top of the plans, making sure things were done perfectly. But now in the chaos, she was disorganized and unsure of everything. Then, a miracle happened.”

Published by Colin Balfe - Jan 28, 2019