Amid the thousands of stories we cover here at 1 NEWS each year, a handful always cut to the bone.
They are the stories that affect everyone that comes in contact with them, from the readers for whom the stories are told, to the journalists that covered them.
This year was no exception. Here are a handful of stories that stopped us in our tracks and broke our hearts just a little, in 2018.
Perhaps it was the photo of the year. For if a picture can truly paint a thousand words, then this was it.
Father Matt Scooter posted to social media a photo of his son Jackson patting his four-year-old daughter Adalynn's head, as she lay in a hospital bed dying of brain cancer.
The photo would be shared around the world as millions grieved with the Scooter family.
Adalynn died the day after this photo was taken.
1 NEWS journalist and presenter Greg Boyd's shock death
Closer to home there was an outpouring of grief for 1 NEWS journalist and presenter Greg Boyed, who died while holidaying with his family in Switzerland in August.
Greg was a much loved and respected member of the team here at 1 NEWS.
His family released a statement saying Greg had battled depression.
He continues to be missed by those who knew and worked alongside him.
When a five-year-old boy, on the brink of death, says sorry to mum for all the trouble, well what are you supposed to say?
The compassion and bravery of little Charlie Proctor, from Lancashire in England, touched hearts around the world.
After being denied a much needed liver transplant by England's National Health Service, and after crowd-fundng failed to raise enough money for life-saving surgery, he peacefully passed away in November.
The Grace Millane case: Missing UK backpacker allegedly murdered and dumped
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was one of those to express sorrow at the 22-year-old’s death. (Source: Other)
As the calendar turned from November into December, a worried British family sent out an urgent request on social media to find a missing backpacker in Auckland.
Grace Millane, 22, had been booked into the Base Backpackers in central Auckland until December 8th, but hadn't been seen Saturday December 1 and hadn't returned birthday wishes from her family and friends, days later.
Her family told the BBC they spoke to Grace "most days" and it was "out of character" for the 22-year-old not to get in touch.
As her worried dad flew to New Zealand, the police issued a missing person's report two days later, on Wednesday December 3.
But with no confirmed public sightings of the young Brit, hope of a happy ending began to fade.
A week after disappearing, police, using CCTV, tracked down the last person seen with her on that fateful Saturday night - a male companion entering an Auckland hotel.
Grace's body was found the next day, dumped in the bush in the Waitakere Rangers.
As a nation mourned, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke of a collective "shame" Kiwis felt at Grace's death, as she apologised to the Millane family though tears: "Your daughter was supposed to be safe here and she wasn't".
A 26-year-old man has been charged with Grace Millane's murder.
For Lynda Burgess the Government's action plan has come as very sad news. (Source: Other)
In May our hearts went out to Canterbury farmers forced to send their pregnant cows to the slaughterhouse, on the same day as the Government handed down their decision on whether to go for complete eradication of cows with Mycoplasma bovis, or manage the disease and let them live.
Prebbleton farmer Lynda Burgess told 1 NEWS: "Why would we send something away in the morning and then hear they're managing it.
"Nobody should be expected to do that."
After the Burgess' story went viral, they earned a brief reprieve, only for the Government to announce a plan to eradicate all M bovis cows.
Five days later the Burgess' said goodbye to their 90 cattle, among more than 126,000 that were planned to be culled over the following 12 months.
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