Workaholic Dad’s Emotional Letter After Finding Out His 8-Year-Old Son Died During A Conference Meeting
“Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think.” These lyrics, probably best known from a classic The Specials cover, have a painful resonance for dad J.R Storment after the tragic passing of his son Wiley.
Image credits: J.R. Storment/Linkedin
A self-described “workaholic,” Storment is the co-founder of a company called Cloudability. He spent much of the previous eight years working late, overtime and shunning holidays, as he laid the foundations for a successful business.
However, all that success meant nothing after the realization that he had missed the vast majority of his precious son’s short, yet action-packed life. Full of regret, Storment took to LinkedIn to pen an emotional letter, urging parents to reassess their priorities, put family first and not make the same mistakes that he did.
Image credits: J.R. Storment/Facebook
“A journal of Wiley’s we found the day after he died”
Image credits: J.R. Storment/Linkedin
Image credits: J.R. Storment/Instagram
Image credits: J.R. Storment/Instagram
Image credits: J.R. Storment/Instagram
Image credits: J.R. Storment/Instagram
Image credits: J.R. Storment/Linkedin
Heartbreaking words, that we would be wise to heed. You can also read Jessica’s letter here, also a frank and honest account of the tragedy that urges a better work/life balance for everyone.
No parent should miss out on a single moment of those precious early childhood years unless it is strictly necessary!
Here’s what people had to say about the letter
TELL PARENTS! When SUDEP claimed my sister many years ago, it was not yet named or recognized. She just somehow died of what never killed anyone. We were devastated. Two years later, SUDEP was acknowledged. TELL PARENTS SUDEP CAN HAPPEN and not just to juveniles. My sis was over 25. Thank you, and please be aware of both SUDEP and SEIZURE FIRST AID (patient on side, nothin gin mouth, keep head safe from hitting things, time seizure, note symptoms, and just always call 911 b/c you never know, okay?)... Peace.
Thank you for passing on this vital life saving information I'm just sorry and sad that we only know about it because of families who have had the worst happen to them. To reach out through your own devestating pain to help others in whatever way you can -sharing your story like Wileys parents or passing on information about a very little known but deadly condition as you have, shows the best of humanity is really out there. I hope you, your family and all those who loved your sister have managed to find some kind of peace in your lives x
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So sad for this family. But yeah, it's not a good advice for a struggling single parent. Maybe the lesson is - you can't have it all, so don't forget to enjoy yourself from time to time.
That's the thing, it's easy to have a post be heartbreaking both ways (parents working too much or too little). Parents that don't (or can't) put in the time to amass some wealth will regret that they didn't give their child all the opportunities they could've and the poor kid had to sacrifice so much etc. This kid seemed to want to be just like dad which means dad was doing something right. Finding that happy medium is really tough.
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TELL PARENTS! When SUDEP claimed my sister many years ago, it was not yet named or recognized. She just somehow died of what never killed anyone. We were devastated. Two years later, SUDEP was acknowledged. TELL PARENTS SUDEP CAN HAPPEN and not just to juveniles. My sis was over 25. Thank you, and please be aware of both SUDEP and SEIZURE FIRST AID (patient on side, nothin gin mouth, keep head safe from hitting things, time seizure, note symptoms, and just always call 911 b/c you never know, okay?)... Peace.
Thank you for passing on this vital life saving information I'm just sorry and sad that we only know about it because of families who have had the worst happen to them. To reach out through your own devestating pain to help others in whatever way you can -sharing your story like Wileys parents or passing on information about a very little known but deadly condition as you have, shows the best of humanity is really out there. I hope you, your family and all those who loved your sister have managed to find some kind of peace in your lives x
Load More Replies... So sad for this family. But yeah, it's not a good advice for a struggling single parent. Maybe the lesson is - you can't have it all, so don't forget to enjoy yourself from time to time.
That's the thing, it's easy to have a post be heartbreaking both ways (parents working too much or too little). Parents that don't (or can't) put in the time to amass some wealth will regret that they didn't give their child all the opportunities they could've and the poor kid had to sacrifice so much etc. This kid seemed to want to be just like dad which means dad was doing something right. Finding that happy medium is really tough.
Load More Replies...
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