Debbie died on Thursday, August 25, in a small Eastern Ontario hospital [link]. The official cause of death was not announced. Unofficially it was the years of abuse, schoolyard bullying, living with a handicap as well as a severe form of epilepsy that led to her living with her 68-year old alcoholic and abusive “boyfriend”.

We knew each other in high school, but we were never friends. I watched her get bullied and mocked, and I was never vocal long enough, or loud enough, to stop it.

We ran into each other on a bench on Main Street a few years ago. We talked for a long time about school, about her crafts hobbies. It’s been a few months since I’ve seen her, she’s been incapacitated with leg and ankle disabilities.

At every stage of Debbie’s life she deserved better than what she got.

…I’m sorry Debbie.