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.

‘We heard this loud, echoing bang above us in the bathroom. Thirty seconds later, this scream came from upstairs. I can still hear it to this day. There she was, on the bathroom floor.’

“My best friend entered before me. She begged me not to come in. I did anyways – I had to see for myself. All of her shoes were neatly lined up next to the foot of the bed. Her clothes were hung up, and her beauty products were organized.”

Colin Balfe - Jan 11, 2019

‘She told me I ‘look like a damn banana’ and needed to go to the ER right away. I had been fighting horrible flu-like symptoms for almost a week leading up to this.’

“They sent me home with strict orders not to take my birth control anymore. I wish I had known this was possible. I met with the doctor and got the scariest news of my life.”

Colin Balfe - Jan 11, 2019

‘She calmly said, ‘You’re a complicated case.’ I replied, ‘I know,’ with laughter. ‘No, the babies, this is a really complicated pregnancy.’ In that moment, my world shattered. I knew.’

“‘Are you sure your OB has heard the heartbeat on the Doppler? Maybe she is just hiding!’ I knew then, they were buying time.”

Colin Balfe - Jan 11, 2019

‘I asked a friend to hold my drink while I went to the restroom and she set the drink down. We always stuck together but my friend went home with a guy, breaking our agreed upon friend code.’

“Finally, after a long ten year battle, and a few amazing people, I urged the police department to re-open my case.”

Colin Balfe - Jan 10, 2019

‘We all started to notice I was sleeping, a lot. I didn’t feel ‘normal.’ I started college, started dating, and felt like things were starting to fall into place. Oh boy was I wrong.’

“I answer the age-old question of ‘When are you going to have babies?’ with a smile on my face and a reply of, ‘Oh no babies, I have dogs.’ I see the answer disappoints them, but the truth is so much more depressing.”

Colin Balfe - Jan 10, 2019

‘He started talking to me, his lips were moving but I couldn’t hear any words. Slowly, everything began to get darker until I emerged into complete darkness.’

“‘It makes sense now.’ I asked him what he was talking about. ‘My sister,’ he said. ‘It makes sense why she’s gone. Now we know. We finally have an answer.”

Colin Balfe - Jan 10, 2019

‘The phone rang with a call that turned my life upside down. It BROKE ME. I thought I had moved on, turns out I was wrong.’

“I naively thought, ‘not us!’ Here we are in the middle of a story I could never have imagined. They were my perfect storm.”

Colin Balfe - Jan 09, 2019

‘I thought I had a clogged milk duct. ‘Ash, go get it checked out. What will it hurt?’: Mom receives cancer diagnosis after thinking she had a clogged milk duct

“I thought it was a clogged milk duct because milk shot out when they did the mammograms. I received the terrifying phone call nobody ever wants to receive. ‘Are you in a safe place to talk?’ I hung up the phone, losing my breath. ‘Stay with me. Stay right here with me.'”

Colin Balfe - Jan 09, 2019

‘For over three years we tried to get to you. Appointment after appointment, shot after shot, tear after tear.’

“Right now I’m looking forward to the sleepless nights, the running late to school or practices, the bedtime struggles followed up by sweet prayers, and the constant laundry pile up.”

Colin Balfe - Jan 09, 2019

‘No one will miss you.’ I said goodbye to my kids. Everything went white.’: Woman thanks husband’s ‘mistress’ for ‘saving her’ after abuser attempts to take her life

“He briefly took his hand off of my throat and forced the barrel into my mouth. This was my gun, and I couldn’t stop him from turning it on me. I said goodbye to my kids, in my head. I thought of them coming downstairs to find me dead. His phone buzzed, and he stopped. His mistress was at the house. MPs, SWAT, NCIS, and a case worker. Every military wife in the neighborhood was outside my home, gawking.”

Colin Balfe - Jan 08, 2019