My Father Walked Out on Us, Leaving My Mum With Heavy Debts. Since Then, I Lost My Chance at a Happy Childhood.

When I was ten, and my little brother was just three, our father walked out on us. Hed found another womansomeone he believed more beautiful than our mum. He left us the flat, the one he and Mum had got with a mortgage years before. Back when our parents were together, life felt safe: I went to a good school, took part in competitions and clubs, and played basketball. But once they divorced, everything turned upside down. Mum suddenly had to juggle two jobs just to keep things going.

She worked as a cleaner during the day, then rushed off in the evenings to care for an elderly lady. It meant I had to leave the grammar school and move to a local comprehensive, one much closer to home. My days of basketball were over toonow, every bit of Mums free time, she left me at home to look after my brother. Nothing was the same anymore. I finished secondary school, moved on to university, and eventually started working. But that happy childhood I once had was lost, fading away behind the realities that life had forced upon us.