The Heartbreak at the End of the Road -by John Matthias
Added 2022-02-02 07:18:51 +0000 UTCThis is Lauren. John wrote a short essay last week after listening to Brandi Neal's interview. Neal spoke of her missing 5-year-old son named Michael "Monkey" Vaughan. After I read what John wrote, I encouraged him to voice it and share. We are sharing this reading of his essay with our Patreon audience only. It is a tribute to Monkey.
Comments
Dr. John- this is so beautiful and I really appreciate you sharing this with us!
Shelley Grigsby-Maxey
2024-02-06 19:40:20 +0000 UTCBeautiful and heartbreaking, just like life Dr. John! I wish we could have a world where our innocent children could just be young and free!
Renee Gruze
2022-08-22 15:48:57 +0000 UTCYour writing is as evocative as music. Imponderable…
Bridget fennell
2022-06-30 04:54:32 +0000 UTCWell, I just cried through that entire thing. I have not been able to watch the interview with Michael's mother. It's just too much for me. I have looked at his pictures though... just in case I see him somewhere.
Jennie Anderson
2022-03-16 05:06:05 +0000 UTC♥️ I can only try to imagine and still not know what you must have felt that day and still today. My heart goes out to you hun.
Crafty Criminalist
2022-02-26 00:42:39 +0000 UTCWow!!! Thank you for having a heart, knowing you have a heart, and for the courage to be an example and not be afraid to let others know!
Sarah Fauth
2022-02-21 03:54:06 +0000 UTCIt helps so much to have someone help us put it into words. And hearing this from a fathers perspective is so powerful. Thank you. More than 10 years ago now one of my grandsons best little friends, a very young girl went missing. My daughter instantly became one of the neighbor search leaders (I went too) —and my memory is that Elizabeth Smart’s father showed up within the hour. Here was a father that should maybe have been a bright beacon of hope —and in a way he was— his own daughter was that rare miracle who made it through the torture you describe—and though he was wonderfully calm the pain in his face seemed still so fresh for him. A reminder, like your essay, that once experienced it is never really possible to recover from that panic of a loved one’s fear and pain for the rest of your life. The little girl was later found to have been murdered by a mentally ill family member. My hope is that our interest in these crimes is so that we can help prevent people from becoming able to do monstrous, imponderable things. Thanks for dedicating your life to that and helping us.
Lynette Butler
2022-02-05 22:33:37 +0000 UTCThank you for being open to share what you hold so close. Being an empath like Dr. John, I waited to listen to this. Your essay did not disappoint. Another gift we now know you possess! What a blessing you have been to so many that you have helped. You are so strong to be able to push through and use your gifts to do such a challenging job. Banks is such a lucky little man too!
Jessica Trump
2022-02-05 16:25:08 +0000 UTCAs a mom, you voiced my biggest fear. Even though my children are 25 and 28 now, I still worry about this. I can’t imagine, yet I’ve worried about it since my first child was born. I’m not sure I could survive it. Prayers for Michael “Monkey” Vaughanand prayers for his family.
Tracy Warberg Holliday
2022-02-05 00:58:04 +0000 UTCMonkey’s story is yet another dagger in every parent’s heart. I want to add a name to the list of children who escaped. Midsi Sanchez was 8 years when she was abducted walking home from school. The next day her abductor drove Midsi to his ex-employers office and handcuffed Midsi while she waited in the car. Her abductor went inside the office to ask for some garbage bags. Midsi in the meantime saw where he put the keys to her handcuffs. She retrieved the keys and freed herself and took off running. She knew he planned to kill her. She ran up to a trucker in his 18 wheeler just warming up his cab. The trucker was shocked to see a little girl run up to his cab and jump up trying to pull herself through the window telling him “he is going to kill me”. Her abductor was caught. I think of this little girl often.
Sylvia See
2022-02-05 00:21:59 +0000 UTCThank you for sharing! Tragic.
Heather Carter
2022-02-04 12:12:50 +0000 UTCChildren should be safe. Unfortunately the world is not a safe or a fair place. I hope Monkey, Orrin & Orsen, Summer, and all the other missing children find their way back to home & safety. When I was just short of 3 years of age in 1962, I was in a car accident that profoundly changed the course of my life. My father & sister were killed and my mother was hospitalized for 6 months. There are two things I remember vividly from the accident. 1) Seeing my father on the ground with crush injuries to his head, 2) How very sad the ER doctor who was treating me looked. I needed over 150 stitches, was concussed, and was covered in cuts, scrapes, and bruises. Despite all that, I felt profoundly sorry for my doctor because of how sad he looked. And I imagine he looked so very sad because my Dad was dead, and my Mom & sister were not expected to make it. Mom pulled through, and eventually came home to a scarred up me & my little brother.
B Sprak
2022-02-04 08:38:05 +0000 UTCWow! That was touching!
Laura Pearson
2022-02-04 01:19:53 +0000 UTCI put off listening to this because I knew it was going to bring out deep emotions. I knew a family whose 2 daughters were abducted and killed when I was a teenager, they were about my age. Their brother went to our high school and In adulthood I worked with their Dad and younger sister. They believe they know who killed them but he never confessed or was never arrested and died a few years ago. There has never been formal closure. Then years later Jacob Wetterling disappeared from St Joesph, MN, miles from where these girls disappeared. These cases made me extra cautious growing up and raising my own kids in the area. I cannot imagine their pain. I pray that they find Monkey.
Tamara Wakeman Sukohl
2022-02-03 13:51:21 +0000 UTCWow! That is such a beautiful and touching essay. It reaches many of us who love a child - fearing what could happen, but hoping that the child's life will be left untouched by some of the horrors we hear about. Thank you for this wonderful writing Dr. John.
Sew Me
2022-02-03 06:43:29 +0000 UTCWow! Thank you Dr. John. That was touching beyond words to describe. I literally wept as I felt your immense love for your own son, but also for the genuine compassion you extend to Monkey.
Jeanine Harrop Hansen
2022-02-02 21:11:05 +0000 UTCWhat a beautiful elegy for this lost boy.
Roberta S Treacy
2022-02-02 19:47:56 +0000 UTCHearing this the Josh Duggar’s of the world. Their addiction are some of the reason why these unfortunate children get abducted. That was my biggest fear as a mother when my children were young. Thank you for posting this.
Marcella Able
2022-02-02 18:58:46 +0000 UTCSteven Staynor. Do you know his story?
Kat Willhite
2022-02-02 18:55:52 +0000 UTCThis is a beautiful tribute! Thank you for sharing your mind with us. As a parent myself this has pulled at my heart strings. Listening to Lauren’s interview, I had to turn off a couple times just to gather myself. You and Lauren make a beautiful team and I appreciate the work y’all are putting into this. Much love to Monkey’s family! You have people from all over the world praying for your family!
Holly Painter
2022-02-02 12:08:50 +0000 UTCA heartbreaking and excruciating listen – even with the hopeful ending. I could hear the real-time anguish and anger in your voice as you read, and your cry for hope, almost willing it in yourself. I’m willing it with you – for Monkey, for all lost children and their families, for this world which needs all the hope and light it can hold. Love you, John! You are a gift.
Melanee Evans
2022-02-02 08:13:57 +0000 UTCI sat here for about two minutes trying to think of the right words to describe what that was..... That was amazing.... Thank you so much for sharing that with us 🙂
Chanda 86
2022-02-02 07:33:27 +0000 UTC
