Where's Anon When You Need Them?

[Brill Weave]

So this story is on the front page of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette this morning. It's also being circulated on several other newspapers throughout the country. I read this story and this fucking cunt needs shot in the face in the worst way. tl;dr version mother leaves her six children to go on a "trip" which she never returns from, marries and moves to England where she's now a successful romance author, completely ignoring her children.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...cle1596500.ece

STARING in shock at the computer screen, Alex Firestone felt sick.
Looking back at her was a glamorous photo of a woman she had given up for dead seven agonising years before — her mum.

She had aged, yet the angular face was unmistakable. Her nose even still bore a scar on the left nostril, caused by a long-discarded piercing.

One thing Alex didn’t recognise was her mother’s new name, Sandee McCann.

Writing had always been her hobby and according to her website she had published some of her romantic novels under this assumed name.

It was searching for the title of one of these stories, Sentimental Street, that had led Alex to her mum’s homepage.

Before she disappeared, when Alex was 15, “Sandee” was just an ordinary housewife known to all in Lake Worth, Florida, as Sandra Gebert, wife to John Gebert, 54, and mum to six children.

Tears welled in 21-year-old Alex’s eyes as the devastating truth finally dawned.

After Sandra, 42, left home claiming she was going on a short trip, she had flown to England, remarried and begun a new life as an author without a thought for the family she left behind.

Alex, who now lives in Lilburn, Georgia, explained: “I’d given up hope of ever seeing Mum again.

“When she first disappeared, I regularly scanned the net to see if I could track her down.

“But it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

“As time wore on I began to think she was dead in a ditch or buried under someone’s house.”

Then, in July this year, Alex suddenly recalled the title of one of her mum’s stories and decided to check for it online.

She said: “A link to an author’s site came up. When I clicked through, my heart stopped. Under the name Sandee McCann was my mum’s photo.

“I felt nauseous, then really happy to know she was alive.

“I read the biography section. Sickeningly, Mum said her proudest moment was having the courage to start a new life.

"She said she was hoping for a baby with her new husband, Michael.

“But there was no mention of me or my brother and sisters and step-dad. It was like we never existed. That’s when I got angry.”

Alex has happy memories of her childhood before the day her world turned upside down.

Sandra had split with Alex’s dad and married John Gerbert, with whom she had five kids - Rebecca, now 17, Dylan, 16, Jude, 13, Bria, 12, and Christian, ten.

They were a normal, loving family – until Sandra and John’s marriage came under strain.

Alex says: “As youngsters we had a great time. I was sent along to ballet classes and Girl Scouts, which I loved.

“When we moved from Pittsburgh to South Florida I grew especially close to Mum.

“We didn’t have many friends in the new neighbourhood so we befriended each other.

“Unfortunately, Mum’s marriage to my step-dad started to crumble and she ploughed all her energy into surfing the internet.

“She’d chat to people all over the world for hours on end, sometimes even showing me their profiles.

“It was all she cared about. She would sit typing from around 9am until after midnight.

"I found myself cooking dinners and caring for the kids because Mum was hooked on the computer and obviously frustrated with her role as mother.

“The easiest way out was to go somewhere else.

“Looking back, I realise she was flirting with potential boyfriends over the web.

“I remember one day she showed me the profile of a man called Michael. He was probably the Michael she has married and now lives with in Coventry.”

The day before she disappeared, callous Sandra announced she was taking a holiday.

Alex can still recall the indifferent attitude which hid her mother’s cold-hearted betrayal.

Alex says: “We were in the car park of Dunkin’ Donuts and my step-dad went inside to get coffee.

“Mum turned to us kids in the back and said, ‘I am going on a trip tomorrow’.

“It was so casual, like she’d just told us she’d bought a new shirt or something. There was no indication of what was about to happen.”

The next morning, John went to work and Alex watched as Sandra began packing her bags.

She said a taxi was on its way and gathered her six young children, then aged three to 15, in the living room to say goodbye.

Alex says: “Mum went round us one by one, giving us each a hug. She didn’t shed a tear or show any sadness.

“She could have been off on a day-trip, she seemed so calm.

“When she got me on my own she told me to look after the little ones and to pick up their uniforms because school term was starting.

“She also asked me to wait a few hours before telling my step-dad that she had left. I was very loyal to Mum and foolishly I did as she asked.

“I didn’t realise the seriousness of the situation and thought she would make contact to let us know what was going on. Seven years passed and she never did.”

Alex put on a brave face for her siblings but deep down she missed her mum dearly.

She sobbed and said: “My youngest brother, Christian, stopped talking when she left. Specialists said it was his way of coping with the trauma of losing his mother.

“But he hasn’t improved much in the intervening years and has since been diagnosed with
autism.”

The pressure of being landed with five kids proved so great that Alex gave up studying to devote herself to her siblings.

She is now their full-time mum while step-dad John goes to work.

Understandably, she feels Sandra robbed her of an education and her fun teenage years.

And although Alex hasn’t made contact with her mother yet, when she does she wants the answer to one question: Why?

She says: “Knowing Mum was alive but didn’t want anything to do with her kids would have hurt, but we could have lived with it.

“Constantly wondering if she was all right was torture.

“I do have love for my mum but I couldn’t say that to her right away. I certainly don’t hate her. We all just want an explanation.”

When The Sun approached Sandra at her comfortable home in Coventry, she refused to provide answers.

She said: “I am not interested in speaking about my family business.”

This is from the Sun in England. The article here was a bit more scathing. And this bitch never graduated from Duquesne. If anyone needs their shit checked it's this bitch right here.

[Tyche]

lol, her website has been taken down. Maybe too many hits...I was hoping for a messageboard.

Damn

Blog has been removed
Sorry, the blog at sandeemccann.blogspot.com has been removed

[yayaok]

lol fuck someone who ditched her family (including fucking kids? 5 of'em? seriously, gtfo)

[Kiarax]

That girl still says she doesn't hate her despite ruining her teenage years and forcing her to look after her 5 brothers and sister, amazing kid. Hopefully the bitch gets what she deserves someday.

[Brill Weave]

Six kids, the oldest was only 15 when she bailed. Yeah I tried to hit her blog and site as well. That fucking cunt makes all of Pittsburgh look bad. Hope her husband fucking divorces her ass then lights her on fire.

[EdgeMoragan]

Someone should start a small scale donation thing for the badass daughter and the other siblings. Yes I mean badass, how many people normally DO have the balls to raise their siblings instead of just BOLT at 18 these days?

Fuck their mom -.-

[Shuemue]

Eh this is clearly only one half of the story. Sure, if it's as simple as the story makes it sound, she's a cunt.

But eh, we have no way of knowing whether she suffered mental illness or whether the relationship was abusive.

[Raiko]

Also The Sun is by no means a credible source lol

[Shuemue]

Also The Sun is by no means a credible source lol

This, 110%
In case our international brethren aren't aware, The Sun is basically a comic, not a newspaper.

[Brill Weave]

I linked the Sun because it was handy, that was all. This is also in several national newspapers. It's front page here in the Sunday paper from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette which is the largest most reputable newspaper here(in Pittsburgh obviously) as was clearly posted in the OP.

Mental illness or not you don't vanish on six children. Even if it's an abusive relationship you're telling me that in seven years you couldn't even drop a postcard to your children that you abandoned? Two sides of the story is correct, but regardless, this lady is a twat.

[Fhloston]

Wow...that bitch seriously needs to DIAF. Pretty sad though about Alex's brother, and the fact that Alex still loves her to an extent. "Sandee" would've been dead to me, had I been in Alex's place. Hoping this ruins her career as an author, though she deserves much worse IMO.

[HAcoreRD]

bitch needs her throat cut

[buttson]

american kids don't say "mum"

[archibaldcrane]

Hoping this ruins her career as an author...

Something something no such thing as bad publicity something something.

C'mon - you can read the story that this crazy bitch wrote before she ditched her family, publishing it later - maybe there will be insight into why she would do such a thing!

Real life intrigue can only help her obscure romance novel writing ass.

[Lordwafik]

What a terrible person.

[BRP]

Not your personal army.

[Metah]

I didn't feel bad until one of them developed Autism =\