Let Her Go

Chapter 1

Hi, my name is Lydia Matthews. I am thirty-two years old and live in Melbourne, Australia with my two beautiful children, Delilah and Ethan. Delilah is eleven and Ethan is eight years old. They both get along great apart from a few fights every now and then. The two are best friends and cannot be separated. I got married at twenty and got divorced three years ago. My ex-husband who goes by the name Andrew is a great person and did absolutely nothing wrong. We were both too young and we were both people who would just in the moment. In the end, we had too many problems and things just didn't work out. It was incredibly hard to get over because we were married and head over heels for nine years. Andrew lives in Perth and sends some money every month to help pay for school fees, food, rent and lastly hospital bills.

When Andrew and I got divorced, I thought it was the hardest thing I would ever have to go through in my life, but little did I know that was just the beginning to an extremely tough journey. Six months after we got divorced, I remember sitting on the couch and just watching Modern Family seeing it always cheered me up and gave me a laugh. Little seven and a half year old Delilah came up to me with tears in her eyes telling me her head hurt. I did not think much of it, just thinking it was from lack of sleep. I gave her some of the kids panadol and put her to bed. The next morning she was her happy, bubbly self again.

After that night things went normally and we followed our everyday routines until two weeks later. The three of us were on the couch watching The Sound of Music when Delilah threw up everywhere. I was concerned seeing she did not a lot of junk food that week but I just convinced myself it might have just been something she ate. I had a gut feeling something was wrong and in the back of my mind I knew something was not right but I pushed those thoughts away.

The next few weeks Delilah's behaviour was completely different. Her speech was slurred and her coordination was not the way it was before. She would fall over at least three times a day when just walking to the kitchen or down the hall. I called Andrew and told him everything and he told me to go to the doctor as soon as possible. He was extremely worried and that made me think of the worst possible outcomes.

I booked a nine a.m. doctors appointment for the next day. Us three got there at eight-forty and those twenty minutes were extremely nerve-racking. I did not know whether I was overthinking the whole situation or if there was something seriously wrong. It was one of those situations where I really wanted to find out but I also didn't because I couldn't bear to hear that something is wrong with my gorgeous daughter. I was sitting in the waiting room, Delilah and Ethan next to me giggling because they didn't understand what was happening.

I was sitting there looking at my two children. I was staring at their beautiful smiles and rosy cheeks, the way their eyes light up when they make each other laugh and the way their heads fall back when they are laughing. As I was staring at them the doctor comes out.