Ben Fogle has posted a heartbreaking letter about the death of his son, who was stillborn in 2014, in response to an editorial by The Guardian where they alleged that David Cameron had experienced "privileged pain" following the loss of his six-year-old son, Ivan. Speaking about the devastating loss of losing a child, and the impact it has had on himself and his wife, Marina, he wrote: "I wanted to share with you my experience of pain. The pain of Child bereavement in particular. You see, despite the geo-political and economic divisions that have polarised the world, pain is universal. Black, white, rich, poor, Muslim, Christian, gay, heterosexual, it doesn’t matter who you are, the pain of losing a child is like ripping out your heart. A part of you, blood and flesh is gone. It is unspeakable, intolerable and unforgettable."
Ben with his wife Marina
He continued: "There is no politics, economics, social inequality, race, class nor gender in the pain of child bereavement. To politicise it is deeply offensive to everyone who has experienced it. There is no privilege in losing a child. There is no privilege in being called in the middle of the night, on the other side of the world to tell you your son had died and your wife may die too. There is no privilege in being turned away from a Ryanair flight because I didn’t have time to print out a boarding pass and lost my wallet in haste to get to the hospital. There is no privilege in holding your dead son in your arms and having a photo with him."
Ben posted the message on Instagram
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Speaking about his personal reaction to the piece, he added: "I don't want this to sound angry, but beneath my tears, your editorial, has relapsed my grief to PTSD. You have made me feel such rage that I want to punch the editor in the face." Speaking about his personal reaction to the piece on LBC radio, David said: "There is no privilege in holding your eldest born child in your arms as their life drains away. Death knows no privilege... I got an apology from Kath Viner, the editor of The Guardian before I’d hardly even seen it. From the little I saw of it, I couldn’t understand what they were trying to say. But fortunately it has been deleted and apologised for, so I think we can leave it there."
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