Lonely Mum Advertises For Friends On Facebook And Is Amazed By Responses She Got

A young mum who felt lonely after the death of her 17-month-old son was shocked with the amazing responses she got when she advertised for new friends on Facebook.

The Mirror reports:

Mikayla MacMillan, 28, posted a request on a ‘Buy Sell and Swap’ Facebook page after she spent months feeling devastated and alone while her fiancé Andrew Shaw was out at work. She was amazed when she was inundated with offers from hundreds of strangers.

Now the 28-year-old is enjoying regular coffee and drinks out with a group of nine other women who were only brought together through Mikayla’s appeal.

Mikayla said: “I couldn’t believe the response. Within minutes people were commenting on my post saying they would love to meet up. I was overwhelmed to see how kind people were being. It made me realise that I wasn’t the only one who was lonely at times.”

Mikayla’s 17-month-old son Max died in April last year just weeks after being given the all clear from Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis, a rare cancer-like condition.

Since Max’s death, Mikayla, from Clitheroe, Lancashire, says she found herself following the same numbing routine every day.

After dropping her seven-year-old daughter Olivia off at school, Mikayla would spend hours with her eight-month-old baby Charlie, but craved companionship from other women who did not just see her as ‘the mum who lost her child.’

Eventually Mikayla plucked up the courage to post a request on the ‘Clitheroe buy and sell’ Facebook page owning up to her feelings of loneliness. Within hours she had had hundreds of offers of friendship.

Mikayla, who had just moved to Clitheroe from Burnley when her son passed away, said: “I was pregnant with Charlie when Max passed away last year and I had nobody, nobody spoke to me at school, nobody spoke.

“It’s easy to make friends when you are a child but it is hard when you are an adult, unless you go out drinking, which I don’t. I wanted to write something on Facebook for months but I was embarrassed. I was petrified of ridicule.

”Every day was the same for me. My fiancé would go out to work, I would get the children ready and drop Olivia off at school. I would then go to the same place for coffee with my son Charlie and then we would go looking around the shops for something to do. I would clock watch until it was time to pick Olivia up again.

“I have always had lots of support from Andy, but I craved company from other women who would see me as more than the mum who lost her child. I was still very lonely even though I had Andy and the kids. I wanted somebody to talk to and have a laugh with. Missing Max added to my feelings of loneliness.

“One morning I’d had enough. I was close to tears so I just posted a request on Facebook. I expected to be laughed at and told I was desperate, but I was desperate.  I thought if 100 people ridicule me but one person befriends me it will be worth it. I was bearing my soul but I had nothing to lose.”

Mikayla took the plunge and posted on a local community Facebook group.

Her post read: “I am aware of being laughed at and made fun of but I don’t care anymore. How do people make friends in Clitheroe? And I mean adults not children. My family have lived here for 17 months now and it’s a very lonely place when you don’t know anyone. Surely I’m not the only mum/adult to feel like this? Well I’m putting myself out there now and trying to make friends locally.

“I have three children, a girl aged seven, a son who passed away aged 17 months last year and an eight-month-old son and I would love to make friends if anyone fancies a chat/coffee etc.”

Within minutes strangers began replying to Mikayla’s post with suggestions of local groups and activities Mikayla could join.

Eventually Mikayla’s post gained almost 400 likes, and Mikayla met up with a group of people for coffee after the school run the following morning.

Mikayla said: “The following day I went to the same coffee shop I went to alone every morning, and nine people turned up to join me.