MISSING

A young man, who I do not know, but by coincidence happens to share the same birth name as me, has gone missing in Hull. Nearly 50,000 PEOPLE (including me) have joined a facebook group that is appealing for information and pleading for PEOPLE to look out for him in the hope that he will be reunited with his family.

Alex Spence went on a night out last Saturday with his sister and some friends. He left the pub at 10.30pm to make the short journey home to his wife and young family. He never arrived. That was almost a week ago. The truth is NO ONE at this moment in time knows what happened to Alex. I cannot imagine what his family and friends are going through and my thoughts are very much with them as I write this. This story really made me think about what would happen if one of my friends or family simply vanished like that. My feeling is that many PEOPLE will be thinking the same thing, which is why the facebook group set up to find him has attracted so many members, many of whom do not even know him.

Can you stop for a minute to imagine if your son, brother, nephew, cousin, dad, husband or friend simply didn't come home from a night out? I thought about it as a result of this story.

What would be going through your mind?
How would you ever get your head round it?
How would you function?
What would you actually do with your day?
Would you sleep?
Who would you talk to?
What would the PEOPLE around you say or do?
How would you explain it to the children?
What questions would you be asking yourself?
What would you be hoping had happened?
What would you be wishing hadn't happened?
What would you have wanted to have said to him the very last time you spoke?
What would you say to him when he is found safely?
Would you be wondering if he will ever come home?
What would be your greatest hope?
What would be your greatest fear?

These are hard questions to answer without experiencing what Alex's family and friends are experiencing right now. I truly hope and pray that Alex will be reunited with his family and soon and that I only ever have to imagine the torture they are going through.

This is a blog about PEOPLE, and thanks to facebook, this appeal has illustrated that even when PEOPLE do not know the person that they are trying to help, when a story like this touches us, it does so in the most profound way. I am positive that those who know Alex will appreciate the support, help and exposure that facebook has enabled them to have in their plight to find Alex, but in reality, they just want him home.

So do nearly 50,000 other PEOPLE.