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.

‘I yelled to my husband, ‘This is the only child you’re getting, I can’t do this again!’ The doctor had to take the baby out in a split second. He was purple, had the cord around his neck, not crying.’: Wife says it’s dad’s responsibility to ‘raise children as well,’ new parents find balance in chaotic phase

“The waiting game absolutely killed me. I was crying, desperate and confused. I felt like somebody was trying to take my baby away. My husband and I had to plan to spend time together. Our marriage and our relationship come before everything, and we don’t take it lightly.”

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‘Are you sure you’re pregnant? You hide it so well,’ they said while I was 8 months pregnant.’: Single mom says ‘no one thought my body could handle childbirth’

“‘Guess what? It’s happened!’ I threw the pregnancy test to my 19-year-old boyfriend. During labor, I had no support from my partner. ‘This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. This 100% was not the plan.’ I ended my relationship. ‘Might as well be a single mom, I basically am one anyway.’”

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‘The anesthetist put a mask over my face. ‘Please help me, I’m going to die.’ She replied, ‘You‘re not going to die.’ I thought about the family I was leaving behind, and then it went dark.’

“Mom kept saying to me, ‘You’re in labor.’ I kept replying, ‘No I’m not.’ Ethan and I just kept repeating, ‘IMAGINE, imagine if this is it!’ We were so excited, and so naive of what was to come. I put my chin to my chest and pushed as hard as my body could handle.”

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‘Hours shy of our wedding, at 5 months pregnant, I was assaulted. ‘I don’t know what is wrong with me.’ My fiancé begged me to forgive him.’: Woman files for divorce with 3 children, now living their ‘best life’ together

“My fiancé sat in the fetal position, berating himself. With 3 children, I filed for divorce. It meant food stamps. We all shared the same bed. I decided to do the craziest thing – leave a stable job to fly for the airlines. Single moms don’t do that, right? As I shut down the engine, I could hear my kids yelling, ‘Mommy!’ I was NOT broken.”

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‘Can you drop me at my relative’s house?’ I kissed him goodbye, bawling. Something didn’t feel right.’: Young mom recounts harrowing journey to single motherhood, ‘I’m my son’s world, and he is mine’

“He was so insistent on going. I thought I was just being paranoid. ‘What did I do wrong? What did I do?’ I didn’t eat. I didn’t sleep. At this point, I was heavily pregnant. Then, I got news from his family there were absolutely no relatives in the area I dropped him off. It was another woman’s house. I didn’t trust my gut. Just like that, he stopped calling and texting. He fell off the face of the planet.”

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‘I blurted out, ‘I think I’m pregnant.’ I’ll never forget her face. She offered no support, wouldn’t hug me, she was ice cold. ‘How was this possible?’ What did I do wrong?’

“Who could I trust to tell? I tried calling my mom, to no avail. She was cold and distant. It hurt. After my appointment, I came home, threw on Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Stay Together,’ and danced around the house with my daughter. I was going to be a mother. I was keeping her.”

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