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.
‘My hair became dull and greasy, falling out in clumps in the shower. I was on the pill for 6 years. It wasn’t until going off the pill I realized what it was doing to me.’
“If a period can be described as glorious, it was.”
‘There is smoke all around me. A bright flash followed by debris rushing past my face. A pitched ringing in my ears. My mouth is moving, but no sound is coming out.’
“The smell of burning flesh is in the air. My helmet chin strap is inside my mouth and being forced down my throat. In a state of panic, I pull at it and choke violently. All my senses are in shock. In an attempt to escape my impending fate, I notice all movement is restricted by an unseen force. Then, I wake up.”
‘It’s 10 a.m. and I’m ‘too drunk’ to be seen. With tears in his eyes, he opened the door, ‘It’s always going to be ONE more Kascidy.’: Woman overcomes years of alcoholism, ‘I am alive’
“I called 911 on myself. I asked them to send an ambulance. I was hallucinating. People were walking past me in my own home. Walking in front of my car while I was driving at night.”
‘Not following his rules would unleash what I began to call, Satan. I loved him in a very dark and twisted way.’: Woman overcomes years of abuse
“After the first incident, he had parental locks put on my phone, like I was a child, his property. I blamed myself for what happened. He convinced me if I hadn’t had been talking to my mother that night, nothing would have happened to me. I believed him.”
‘It seems your water has broken, baby has no fluid left.’ I looked at my husband, full of tears. I squeezed his hand and took a deep breath. I didn’t notice I was holding it in the entire time.’
“My husband was by my side in a heartbeat, and said, ‘let’s fight and give this baby a chance!’ I knew in my heart I needed to fight for this little life inside me. It was alive, it was thriving and it’s heart was beating. I couldn’t decide it’s fate.”
After Losing Brother To Gun Violence On Halloween, Woman Performs 31 Acts Of Kindness Each October
“This man, carrying a canoe paddle, yelled and threatened to call the police, and then took down my brother’s license plate number. I don’t know if that was why Adam felt the need to go to the door or not, but he did. Wrong place, wrong time.”
‘I woke up to Dan yelling for help. He was at the top of the stairs with his inhaler telling me it wasn’t working. Dad was hysterical screaming at me to get there right now.’
“I had a weird feeling. I decided to go after them. Then, my phone rang. I saw it was my dad, and instantly my heart fell to my stomach.”
‘He thought I was drunk, but after hearing me slam my head several times due to seizing, he approached the stall and witnessed me convulsing on the floor.’
“I was rushed to the hospital with several Marines holding me down. My consciousness was fading. The first 4 hospitals turned me away. I awoke to a half-paralyzed body.”
‘I didn’t know who the father was. I continued to use drugs, until I received life-changing news. I was not expecting one baby, or two.’: Woman overcomes addiction, gives birth to triplets
“I began prostituting, and living out of hotels. When my daughter was 1-year-old, I left my 5th rehab facility and began getting sick. I assumed this was related to my hepatitis C. It wasn’t.”
‘The neck of my womb was open and was 100% effaced. I locked myself in my bathroom and refused to talk to my partner, the midwives or doctors.’
“My baby was struggling through contractions and distorting her head trying to get out. I screamed, cried, swore and kicked as I couldn’t understand what was going on.”