Cooper Stone got to throw the first pitch at the Texas Rangers game — but the mood was far from celebratory.

The last time six-year-old Cooper Stone went to a Rangers game his world was turned upside down.

Earlier this summer, Cooper watched his father, Shannon Stone, fall 20 feet down to concrete floor — head first — after trying to catch a ball thrown to him by his boy’s favorite player, Josh Hamilton.

The little boy’s first trip back to the stadium since his father’s death was welcomed by 50,000 cheering fans, as well as friends and family. Cooper threw the opening pitch to Josh and then he and his mother, Jenny Stone, walked in front of home plate to meet him for the very first time.

The reunion between the three was very emotional.

‘I just asked [Jenny] if they were believers in Christ and she said they were,’ Hamilton told the Associated Press. “I said, ‘Well, we know where your husband is right now. Make sure that the little one knows who his daddy was and what he stood for.’”

So sad! And even though the mood was somber, Cooper showed signs of happiness.

“Just to see the smile on his face and him enjoying himself,” Hamilton said, “it was pretty special to see.”

What do you think, Hollymoms — is this the saddest story you’ve ever heard? Weigh in below.

— Nicole Karlis

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The family was killed instantly when their SUV hit a tractor and burst into flames in Harriman, Tennessee on Tuesday, August 30.

Stephanie Brown and her sons, Gage, nine, Jackson, seven, and Grayson, eight months, had been visiting their great-grandmother and were returning home on State Highway 61 when the accident took place.

According to reports Stephanie’s 2004 Ford Expedition crossed onto the wrong side of the road and hit a tractor-trailer coming in the other direction. The other driver, Joe Sexton, 51, escaped the accident with only minor injuries.

Police don’t know what caused Stephanie’s car to veer. Clarence Nelson, chief of the Blair Volunteer Fire Department, says, “It looked like they were killed instantly. It was a terrible accident.”

Stephanie’s husband and former high school sweetheart Josh is “crushed and devastated” by the tragedy and “still in shock”, her uncle, local pastor Rev. John Edwards tells the Daily Mail.

The accident has stunned the family’s close knit Harriman, Tennessee community. Friends and neighbors have paid tribute to a “perfect mom” who “radiated love” and teachers and students at the school the older Brown kids attended have been offered counseling sessions to help with their grief.

What a horrible, terrible tragedy.

– Ian Garland

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A firefighter trying to catch a ball plummeted 20 feet at a Texas Rangers baseball game as his son looked on.

Shannon Stone, 39, was enjoying the Texas Rangers and Oakland A’s July 7 game with his son, Cooper, 7, when he did what most fans do: try to catch a ball flying into the stands.

Shannon was sitting in the front row, a few seats down from former President George W. Bush, when he asked player Josh Hamilton to toss him a ball. Hamilton obliged, but as Shannon reached over the barrier to catch the ball, he fell forward, behind the scoreboard onto the concrete below. As he fell, little Cooper grabbed onto his father’s sandals, trying to catch him.

“I tried to grab him, but I couldn’t,” said Ronnie Hargis, who was seated next to Shannon. “I tried to slow him down a little bit. He went straight down.”

As Shannon was taken away by ambulance he was still conscious, saying, “Please check on my son. My son was up there by himself.”

Less than an hour after the fall, Shannon was pronounced dead at a Texas hospital.

The Texas Rangers’ team president Nolan Ryan said “Mr. Hamilton is very distraught over this, as the entire team is.”

Bob Melvin, the manager of the Oakland As said, “It’s just devastating. I don’t even know what to say. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family. Certainly baseball is not very important in light of something like that.”

We hope that safety precautions will be taken in the future to prevent accidents like these from happening!

–Scott Galina

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Rescuers pulled both mom and daughter from the rubble, but the toddler died in hospital. How sad.

Six other people were injured when the two-story building collapsed in Morriltown, Arkansas on May 16.

Alissa Jones, 2, was reportedly spending the day with her unnamed mom, who worked in the building as a cleaner.

Rescuers carried her mom to safety, but by the time they found Alissa, hidden under a pile of bricks, her body was lifeless. She was rushed to hospital, but died soon after.

The other injured people are thought to be recovering after treatment.

The building housed several shops, which were being renovated at the time of the accident.

There have been unconfirmed reports of a gas leak, and neighbors have told Morriltown mayor Stewart Nelson they heard the building creak and groan loudly in the days before it collapsed.

Investigators now have to piece together all the evidence and discover exactly what caused this terrible accident.

– Ian Garland

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The father also releases odd public statements surrounding the events.

The funeral for Lashanda Armstrong, the mother who drove her van into the Hudson River to drown her four kids, will be held today — April 21. But Jean Pierre, the father of the three kids who died in the tragedy, announced her services would be separate from their children!

The tragedy took place when Lashanda, 25, put her four kids — 10-year-old Lashaun, 5-year-old Landon, 2-year-old Lance, and 11-month-old Lainaina – in her van on April 12 and drove the vehicle into the Hudson River. All but Jean’s stepson Lashaun died, as he was able to escape through the window and swim to safety.

“My deepest sympathy goes out to Lashaun and the Armstrong family,” Jean wrote, in a statement reported by the Daily News. “I ask that I be given the opportunity to grieve the loss of my three children privately. I loved Landon, Lance, Lainaina, Lashanda and still love Lashaun will all my heart.”

Although Lashanda’s funeral takes place on April 21, the ceremony for the three kids she had with Jean will occur on April 25.

Along with the announcement of the funeral preparation, Jean also distanced himself from any involvement with the deaths, as it was reported he was acting aggressively toward Lashanda before the incident took place.

“I have been inaccurately portrayed as being directly responsible for the tragedy,” he wrote. “If I could, I would have changed some things in my past. (I) am shocked and distraught by what happened. This has been a very devastating tragedy for all concerned.”

What a heartbreaking occurrence in every way.

– William Earl

More About This Tragedy:

1. First Photo Of The Only Survivor Of Hudson River Tragedy, LaShaun Armstrong
2. Family Trying To Make Sense Of The Senseless After Mother Kills Her Three Children
3. Mother Kills Herself And Three Children By Driving Minivan Into River

LaShaun Armstrong, 10, is putting on a brave face after he was involved in one of the most talked about tragedies in recent days. On Tuesday night, April 12, LaShaun’s mother LaShanda, 25, packed her four kids, including Landon, 5, Lance, 2, and 11-month-old Lainaina, into her minivan and drove it into the Hudson River in Newburgh, NY, killing herself and her three toddlers. LaShaun escaped from the vehicle and lived to tell the heartbreaking story.

LaShanda’s family had been concerned about her behavior for a few weeks, saying she was constantly apologizing to them about something they didn’t understand, but now, they do.

Minutes before she drove her car into the river, LaShanda took to her Facebook to write one last goodbye message. A message that is as eerie as what she did. At 7:13 p.m., just 47 minutes before she committed the murder-suicide, she used her Blackberry to write “I’m sorry everyone forgive me please for what I’m gonna do… This is it!!!”

Our hearts go out to LaShaun and the entire Armstrong family. We only pray the 10-year-old will get through this tough time.

–Leigh Blickley

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1. Family Trying To Make Sense Of The Senseless After Mother Kills Her Three Children
2. Mother Kills Herself And Three Children By Driving Minivan Into River

Three years after the death of her ex Heath Ledger, Michelle admits its tough juggling a Hollywood career and caring for her 5-year-old daughter – but she couldn’t imagine life without the adorable Matilda.

“You make it work. You keep getting out of bed. Sometimes it’s just because you know there’s a cup of coffee downstairs,” Michelle Williams, 30, tells USA Today about life as a single mom. Michelle and Heath Ledger broke up in September 2007, just four months before he died from an accidental overdose in his New York apartment, leaving the actress still sore from the split and facing life as a single mom to Matilda, who was just 2 at the time.

It broke our hearts at the time and we can only image how tough it must have been for Michelle to pick herself up and carry on for the sake of her daughter.

Happy birthday, Matilda Ledger — you’re 5 years old!

But Michelle proved she’s a natural mom, and she now admits she can’t even remember life before Matilda. “Five years down the road, it’s my new normal. Now can’t imagine, I don’t even really remember or would want my life previous,” says Michelle.

Matilda Ledger looks just like her late daddy

And she insists she has a tight network of friends and family to thank for helping her through the dark times. Michelle explains, “I loved so much becoming a mom and what had been, to me, this invisible community before [that] sort of rises up and says, ‘We’re here to help you.’  And then when I became a single mother, there was a smaller but equally powerful community that rose up.”

We think you’re a genuine supermom, Michelle!

–Ian Garland

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Brittany Murphy, like any healthy 32 year-old  SHOULD NOT  have died from either the pneumonia or anemia she was suffering from, nor from the drugs she ingested,  say top docs that Hollywoodlife.com interviewed.

Brittany Murphy’s death was caused by “pneumonia, with prescription drugs and anemia also playing a role,” according to a Coroner’s report released Feb. 4.  Furthermore, the young actress’s tragic death was accidental and likely could have been prevented if she had been taken to a doctor, said Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter .
“If Brittany had community-acquired pneumonia, and had been treated with effective antibiotics within 24-48 hours of feeling ill, the likelihood of her dying would have been [around] 1%,” Dr. Brad Spellberg, associate professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at Harbor-UCLA’s Medical center, explained to HollywoodLife.com.

In other words,  it’s even MORE TRAGIC that  Brittany died. She would have had a 99 % chance of living if either her husband Simon Monjack or  her live-in mother Sharon Murphy, had  insisted on her seeing a doctor  when she was suffering from the “flulike symptoms,” that they described her having in the days before she died.

In fact doctors have told Hollywoodlife.com that it is extraordinarily unusual for 32 year-olds to die from pneumonia, even if they are sick with the disease for weeks “Young people have a lot of reserves. They don’t just collapse from pneumonia — there is no such thing as a sudden death from pneumonia, ” explains Dr. Robert  J. Bos.  ” She would have had to have had ample symptoms — shortness of breath, chills and she would have looked very ill — to have been obviously in distress and to have indicated that she should have been taken to a hospital. This is a disease  we can treat.”

According to the Coroner’s report, Brittany also showed low levels of iron — but even profound anemia wouldn’t have been a cause of death according to either Dr. Spellberg or Dr. Bos. “It’s actually ironic — most organisms that cause this infection need iron to survive,” explained, Dr. Spellberg.

Toxicology reports have not yet been released, so the exact drugs in Brittany’s system at the time of her death are unknown. However, Simon claims Brittany wasn’t taking non-prescribed medicine or drugs.

Both Dr. Bos and Dr. Spellberg believe there was some other factor in play that could have been the true culprit in her death. “Nothing here explains death, ” says Dr. Bos. Could it have been drugs? Toxicology reports have not yet been released, so the exact drugs in Brittany’s system at the time of her death are unknown. However, Simon claims Brittany wasn’t taking non-prescribed medicine or drugs.

In the absence of that information, both doctors speculated that some incident, most probably Brittany throwing up in the bathroom and then inhaling or aspirating the the vomit into her lungs, could have caused a heart arrhythmia, which could definitely have led to heart failure.   If you get something into your lungs, and you can’t breathe, oxygen doesn’t get to the heart and you experience an arrhythmia, explains Dr. Bos.

Brittany’s mom found her on her bathroom floor unresponsive, about 30 mins after the actress went in there on a Sunday morning.

Since information on what types of drugs were involved in her death won’t be released for several weeks, Hollywoodlife.com expects, there is at least one more bombshell to come.

—Bonnie Fuller and Kirstin Benson

Speculation will continue around the investigation until the toxicology report is released late-February.

Read More About Brittany Murphy

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2. Brittany Murphy: She Wasn’t on Drugs, She Was “Afraid of Death”
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