Hi, this is Mary Louise Kelly. I cannot believe it is the last day of 2024. And this is the moment. Right now, when NPR needs your support. We are a non-profit news organization. We are dedicated to creating a more informed public through independent, honest, accurate, transparent, and fair journalism. You can read all about our

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donate.npr.org. Thank you if you are already an NPR plus supporter or if you support your local

station. We're grateful to have your I won't get into the details,

but reflecting on it, I realized that as hard as it was, I'm also coming out of this year feeling stronger.

And I know I'm not alone. So to kick off 2025,

we asked you, our listeners, to tell us about some of your most challenging years, what you

experienced, how you made it through, and what you can take from it into a new year.

One of those listeners was Mike Ingram. We were laying in bed and we got a phone call at 5.15 in the morning to say that our son was

at the hospital. And they wouldn't tell us anything other than he was at the hospital.

In 2010, Mike and his wife Celia received the news that every parent fears most.

A drunk driver speeding up I-95 northbound in Philadelphia,

crossed into the southbound lanes and crashed into their son Michael's car.

My son was 23 years old, an athlete, and had a whole lot of life ahead of him.

So that's been the heartbreak of my life right there.

If you had told me before my son's passing that I could live, I would say it's not possible,

...