have you ever felt so lonely that you
wanted to give up on life
i hope not but you can probably imagine
how i felt as a kid being raised by my
uncle who acted like i didn't exist
it all started when my parents decided
to leave the country they wanted to
start a new life but unfortunately i
wasn't part of their plan they decided i
should live with my uncle but when they
brought me to his home he didn't want me
my parents and tea started screaming at
each other and in the end my dad had to
give him a bunch of money in exchange
for letting me live with him
back then i was only eight years old and
i haven't seen my parents ever since all
i know is that their flight was going
somewhere to europe
you can probably imagine that my parents
had never loved me very much but they
were still hundreds of times better than
my uncle he was a cold and emotionless
man he barely even acknowledged my
existence the only time he talked to me
was when he gave me orders like to clean
the bathroom or wash his clothes i was
so desperate for love or some kind of
connection that my stuffed animal theo
became my best friend
i talked to him for hours because i had
no one else who loved or cared about me
my uncle also never signed me up for
school so i ended up spending a whole
year not leaving my uncle's apartment
and only eating the rest of his meals
at one point i couldn't take it anymore
i needed someone to talk to and walked
outside i was only nine and hadn't felt
the sunlight on my skin in more than 12
months
i felt overwhelmed and scared by all the
noises and sounds at one point a
policeman approached me and asked if i
needed help i responded i'm okay but he
didn't believe me probably because i
hadn't washed my hair or clothes in
weeks i must have looked like i'd been
homeless for years he asked me where my
parents were and that's when things got
really messy the authorities found out i
was living with my uncle and that he
hadn't taken appropriate care of me
that's why the policeman that had found
me brought me into an orphanage
before he left he promised me that soon
someone would come and adopt me and then
i would have real parents who would love
and take care of me but i waited for two
months and no one came to adopt me
meanwhile the other kids inside the
orphanage called me the dirty or the
weird girl so again i ended up feeling
lonely spending most of my time with my
teddy bear theo but then after three
months the same policeman that had saved
me from my uncle's home came back into
the orphanage to look for me he wanted
to know if i had found a new family and
he wasn't alone he had brought his wife
with him it felt so good to see him
again even though i was too shy to talk
to him but i could feel that he cared
about me
when he said my wife and i have thought
about this for a long time and we wanted
to ask you if you would like to become
our daughter and be a part of our family
i wanted to scream yes yes
but after years of neglect i was too shy
and couldn't bring out a word
in the end he told me to think about it
and that he would come back the next
week to ask me again but while he and
his wife were on their way out i quickly
drew a painting and ran after them
when i had stopped them i showed them my
drawing it was me holding both their
hands and i had written mom and dad over
them it was the only way i could express
myself i still remember how they both
took me into their arms it felt so warm
and so good to be touched by another
human being it felt like years of pain
were being healed inside my body
afterward my new parents went back into
the orphanage to sign the papers to
adopt me and by the next day i was
living with them in their home they
didn't have a bed for me so i had to
sleep right between them but of course i
didn't mind because for the first time i
could remember i didn't feel lonely or
abandoned my adoptive parents give me
endless amounts of love and there's
nothing more important for a kid than to
be loved
i just wanted to say thank you to my dad
and my mom you have literally saved me
and therefore you will always be my
heroes thank you so much