{"id":5091,"date":"2016-03-28T13:17:22","date_gmt":"2016-03-28T13:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailydigest.com\/?p=5091"},"modified":"2016-03-28T13:17:22","modified_gmt":"2016-03-28T13:17:22","slug":"dead-daughter-mirror-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/dead-daughter-mirror-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"If Dad Hadn\u2019t Moved This Mirror&#8230; He&#8217;d Never Have Discovered THIS Shocking Secret Of His Dead Daughter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Leicester, England.<\/strong> 12 year-old <strong><em>Athena Orchard<\/em><\/strong> is a happy, pretty young girl with her whole life ahead of her. She lives a full and active life at <a href=\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/garage-conversion-home-value-guide\/\">home<\/a> with her parents, six sisters and three brothers. But the Orchards lives were about to turn upside down&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Just before Christmas, Athena discovered a lump on her head. Just days later she collapsed on the kitchen floor one day. Her mom and dad took her to her local <a href=\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/black-spots-in-stool\/\">doctor<\/a>. The news couldn&#8217;t have been worse. She had terminal bone <a href=\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/explosive-rise-in-colon-cancer-tied-to-bacterial-toxin-found-in-tainted-salad-experts-warn\/\">cancer<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A seven hour operation removed the tumor, but Athena eventually lost her battle. On her thirteenth birthday, she <a href=\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wrestling-legend-hulk-hogan-dies-at-71\/\">passed away<\/a>. The family were, understandably, devastated.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-5092\" src=\"http:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Dead-Daughter-1.jpg\" alt=\"Dead Daughter \" width=\"978\" height=\"1304\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A few days after Athena&#8217;s passing, her father was tidying her room. It was an emotional moment, being around all of her possessions. As he shifted things around, he noticed that Athena&#8217;s mirror wasn&#8217;t fixed to the wall properly. He looked at it. There was a letter affixed to the back&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it. It was almost 3,000 words long,\u201d <\/em>Dean says.<em> \u201cIt totally blew me away. I started reading the words, but I had to stop after a while, it was simply too much \u2013 it broke my heart.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-5093\" src=\"http:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Dead-Daughter-2.jpg\" alt=\"Dead Daughter \" width=\"1001\" height=\"1777\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s an extract from the touching letter:<\/p>\n<p><strong><i>\u201cHappiness depends upon ourselves.<\/i> <i>Maybe it\u2019s not about the happy ending, maybe it\u2019s about the story.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><i>The purpose of life is a life of purpose.<\/i> <i>The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.\u00a0<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><i>Happiness is a direction not a destination.<\/i> <i>Thank you for existing. Be happy, be free, believe, forever young.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><i>You know my name, not my story.<\/i> <i>You have heard what I\u2019ve done, but not what I\u2019ve been through.<\/i> <i>Love is like glass, looks so lovely, but it\u2019s easy to shatter.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><i>Every day is special, so make the most of it. You could get a life-ending illness tomorrow so make the most of every day.\u00a0<\/i> <i>Life is only bad if you make it bad.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><i>Love is rare, life is strange, nothing lasts and people change. Life is a <a href=\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/man-trolls-boxing-ppv-providers\/\">game<\/a> for everyone but love is the only prize.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><i>If someone loves you then they wouldn\u2019t let you slip away no matter how hard the situation is. Remember that life is full of ups and downs, without the downs the ups don\u2019t mean anything.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><i>I\u2019m waiting to fall in love with someone I can open my heart to.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><i>Love is not about who you can see spending your future with it\u2019s about who you can\u2019t see spending your life without.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><i>There is no reason to cry, because I\u2019ll know you\u2019ll be by my side.\u201d<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-5094\" src=\"http:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Dead-Daughter-3.jpg\" alt=\"Dead Daughter \" width=\"900\" height=\"427\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The family were shocked. Dad especially. <em>\u201cShe never mentioned it. Athena was very profound. She loved to write, that was a part of her and had always made her happy. We will keep the mirror forever. Just reading her words makes it feel like she is still with <a href=\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/eu-tell-trump-to-pee-off-over-tariffs\/\">us<\/a>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A sad story. But what strength from Athena. A beautiful spirit. Rest in peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leicester, England. 12 year-old Athena Orchard is a happy, pretty young girl with her whole life ahead of her. She lives a full and active life at home with her parents, six sisters and three brothers. But the Orchards lives were about to turn upside down&#8230; Just before Christmas, Athena discovered a lump on her<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5095,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[296,1079,1080],"class_list":{"0":"post-5091","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-family","8":"tag-athena-orchard","9":"tag-dead-daughter-letter","10":"tag-dead-daughter-message"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.4 (Yoast SEO v26.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>If Dad Hadn\u2019t Moved This Mirror... He&#039;d Never Have Discovered THIS Shocking Secret Of His Dead Daughter - Daily Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/dead-daughter-mirror-letter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"If Dad Hadn\u2019t Moved This Mirror... He&#039;d Never Have Discovered THIS Shocking Secret Of His Dead Daughter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Leicester, England. 12 year-old Athena Orchard is a happy, pretty young girl with her whole life ahead of her. She lives a full and active life at home with her parents, six sisters and three brothers. But the Orchards lives were about to turn upside down&#8230; Just before Christmas, Athena discovered a lump on her\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/dead-daughter-mirror-letter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Daily Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-28T13:17:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Daily-Digest-News.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1366\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elsa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elsa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/dead-daughter-mirror-letter\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/dead-daughter-mirror-letter\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elsa\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c7b6cab888ea94b268899683cb8010e6\"},\"headline\":\"If Dad Hadn\u2019t Moved This Mirror&#8230; He&#8217;d Never Have Discovered THIS Shocking Secret Of His Dead Daughter\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-28T13:17:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/dead-daughter-mirror-letter\/\"},\"wordCount\":533,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/dead-daughter-mirror-letter\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"keywords\":[\"Athena Orchard\",\"Dead daughter letter\",\"Dead daughter message\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Family\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2016\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/dead-daughter-mirror-letter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dailydigest.com\/dead-daughter-mirror-letter\/\",\"name\":\"If Dad Hadn\u2019t Moved This Mirror... 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