Missing....

Most parents have had that feeling of panic when they lose sight of their child for a moment, and felt the huge relief that comes with spotting them....but what about families for whom that moment turns into minutes, hours, days and years?


Imagine saying goodbye to your partner as they leave for work, or waving off your child to school.....and never seeing them again, with no clue as to why or what happened to them....

When we lose a loved one to disease, or if they are tragically killed in an accident, this is traumatic enough, but when a person goes missing their family are subjected to unimaginable anguish, sometimes never finding out the truth about what happened.

Missing People offers a lifeline to families searching for a loved one, giving specialised support and advice around the clock.  They also help families with publicity appeals and use social media to highlight missing people cases.

Today I volunteered at Miles for Missing People in Regent's Park in London - the main event is a 10k run, but what made this event so special was that it was accessible to the whole family as there was a children's run, and a fun run, so not everyone needed to be able to manage 10k!

I was handing out water with a lady whose nephew disappeared when he was 21 - he's been missing for 19 years!  Madeleine McCann is of course a very high profile case, and both her parents were taking part in the event.  People can be as judgemental as they like about the circumstances surrounding Madeleine's disappearance, but the fact remains she was just 3 years old and no family deserves to go through what they have.

There are many ways to support the fantastic work of Missing People - if you can't donate or volunteer your time, please be sure to follow them on twitter and facebook and share their appeals.  Just one tweet or facebook post could reunite a missing person with their family.

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