I am overcome by a feeling of complete detachment. I am a mere object to these people. I am barely human any more.

If I move, if I speak, if I so much as blink, I'm going to lose this battle.

She can't just be a face, a body; there has to be more than that, some kind of connection. And I can't connect, don't want to connect, with anyone.

Get through today – you can fall apart tomorrow. Get through tomorrow, you can fall apart the day after . . .

Nothing can relieve the pain. Not crying, laughing, screaming, begging. Nothing can change the past.

At the age of five she has already come to terms with one of the life's harshest lessons: that the world isn't fair.

only a matter of time before it broke through our fragile web of denial, forcing us to confront the truth and acknowledge who we are: two people in love – a love that nobody else could possibly understand.