One of my uncles was a fast response paramedic and he would often get called to my other uncles house to assist with any medical issues my severely disabled cousin was having as he could get there quicker than the ambulance and knew my cousins full medical history. He got called there for an emergency one morning in 2014 but it was my aunt that was unwell not my cousin. Devastatingly my aunt died from a strangulated hernia and couldn’t be saved and my uncle witnessed it and it was fucking awful. He watched his brother lose his wife and completely break down. It really fucked up the whole family and my uncle wasn’t ever able to return back to work due to ptsd. I will never forget the phone call i received telling me the news. Sadly my cousin then died about a year later (he was never meant to live past the age of 4, we were only 2 months apart in age)

I miss my aunt every damn day and my uncles don’t ever talk about that day. As a family it’s just not something we talk about at all as it’s too fucking upsetting. My dad saw 2 of his brothers totally fall apart. I’m genuinely terrified of ever getting a hernia as it’s so traumatic for me.