"Our children give us strength": Kate and Gerry McCann speak about how they continue in search for Madd
May 01, 2014 10:53
By Richard Hartley-Parkinson
for educational purposes, adapted from: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccann-kate-gerry-say-3481925
Nearly seven years after Maddie disappeared, her parents say they have pictures of her
all over their house so that they will remember her
[1]Almost seven years after Madeleine McCann vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Portugal, her parents have spoken about how their other two children provide them with strength.
[2] Kate and Gerry McCann say that they have photographs of Maddie all over their house and keep their children, twins Sean and Amelie, who were two at the time, up to date with the progress of the police investigation.
[3] Speaking to Lorraine Kelly this morning on ITV, the couple also spoke about how life for them is defined before Madeleine disappeared and after.
[4] Saturday marks the seventh anniversary since Maddie vanished from the flat in Praia da Luz a few days before her fourth birthday.
[5] Lorraine asked where they get their strength and Gerry responded: "I get mine from Kate obviously."
[6] Kate added: "I think from each other, from our children, from our family and friends."
[7] Gerry said: "We have had unbelievable support, not just from those who are close to us, but the public support has been amazing."
[8] He continued: "Our life is defined pre and post the abduction unfortunately. Leading up to Portugal, having had three very young children and a tough two or three years, full on and working etc, we were just coming through that. Life seemed good - really good. It's different now, because Sean and Amelie are really good kids, really happy and they bring tremendous amounts of joy so it's very much we were a family of five and now we are functioning as a family of four."
[9] Kate added: "It's seven years down the line and we have adapted, but still weeks and months rolling by is still incredibly significant for us.
[10] "Whether Madeleine had been found after a week, after six months, whether it's seven years and one week - that's better than 10 years or whatever, so it's really significant."
[11] When asked if they will ever give up, Kate responded: "If we haven't found Madeleine, or we haven't found what's happened, then we haven't done enough. There's still work to be done."
[12] Earlier, Kate backed a revamped alert system triggered when missing children are kidnapped or their lives are at risk.
[13] She urged members of the public to sign up for Child Rescue Alerts, which will be overhauled later this month.
[14] She said: "When a child is abducted, families are devastated and entire communities are torn apart. The agony of not knowing where your child is is almost impossible to imagine. The helplessness is at times overwhelming."
[15] "But there is now something we can all do to help. Please sign up to receive alerts - you could save a child's life."
[16] The mother also spoke of how she would prefer to know the truth about what happened to her daughter, even if it is "the worst case scenario".
[17] She added: "But there is always the worst case scenario. That's always been a possibility and anyone who thinks that we're blinkered doesn't know us."
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