‘Girl’s letter to her daddy touched me very deeply’
POSTMAN WHO FOUND ENVELOPE ADDRESSED TO HEAVEN EXPLAINS WHY HE REACHED OUT TO FAMILY
A POSTMAN who found a letter addressed “To daddy in heaven” has revealed it touched his heart so deeply because he tried to take his own life after his own father died of cancer.
The 29-year-old, who wishes to remain anonymous, suffered from severe depression after his relationship broke down and he lost his father.
He said he realised it could have been written to him by his own son if his attempt to take his life had been successful.
The Braunstone postman said: “Last year, my relationship of seven years with my children’s mother broke down and then I lost my dad.
“I struggled with depression for a long time and, two months later, I tried to take my own life.”
While making his rounds in Leicester on June 21, the postie came across a letter written by eightyear-old Sianna to her dad, who died when she was four months old.
The homemade envelope was addressed: “To Daddy, Heaven, Cloud Nine.”
Finding the letter, the postman was heartbroken as memories of his father’s death and his own struggles came flooding back.
He said: “When I found it, all I could think was that the letter could have been my own son writing to me had I been successful in my suicide attempt.
“It really hurt me, but I also had so much empathy for the child who was clearly missing her own father.”
The postman’s dad died last year after being diagnosed with cancer over two years earlier.
He said: “I went round to visit my parents on one of my days off and Dad was upstairs in bed.
“I sat chatting to my mother for a while as we thought he was asleep.
“Mum went up to feed him as he had to have his food syringed into stomach via a tube. But we found him unresponsive and barely breathing.
“We rang the ambulance and I sat holding him when the paramedics arrived. They said his oxygen levels were critically low and that had he survived, he would have been brain dead.”
His dad passed away within an hour.
“My mum said that while in the hospital, he muttered mine and my younger brother’s names.”
Every Christmas, birthday and Father’s Day, Sianna Tully begs her mum to post a letter to her dad.
Her mum Sarah said she never asks to see what her daughter has written because that is between her and her dad.
She said: “Sianna’s dad died from an accident eight years ago but we keep his memory alive by writing lethis ters. Only Sianna knows what’s in the letter but I save them all so I can show her one day when she is older.”
When he discovered the letter, the postman set out to find the family by posting a picture on Facebook.
With it, he wrote: “I’m a postman in the Braunstone area. Earlier today I emptied the red pillar box on Bewicke Road and there was a letter in a child’s handwriting addressed to their dad in Heaven, Cloud 9.
“I’m trying to find the parents of the child as I would like to reach out to them and, with their permission, sort out a little something for the child.
“I myself lost my dad last year and as an adult found it hard, so I can only imagine what this child is going through.
“I understand the hardship of losing a family member but I can’t comprehend having to deal with that emotion at such a young age.
“I wanted to find the mother of the child so I could return the letter as a keepsake so that when the child is older they could open it and look back on what they had written.”
The letter remains unopened and has been returned to Sarah, who is keeping it in a memory box.
The postman said: “I took the letter to my manager, explained why I wanted to reach out and asked if I could try to find the parents of the child, ensuring them it wouldn’t be opened.
“He happily obliged, knowing it would have been destroyed otherwise.”