It has been a week since Bruce Fairfax was last seen walking on the Duckhole Lake track, with his wife Louise, in the state’s rugged south.

The 66-year-old trailed behind with his dog while his wife went ahead to take photos. She raised the alarm when the dog later emerged alone.

A wide ranging search party involving police, State Emergency Service workers, volunteers and family and friends spent several days scouring the area, hoping to find the Launceston Church Grammar teacher.

It is not beyond the realms of hope and possibility. Only last week a mother and her nine-year-old son spent 10 days lost in NSW bushland. They survived by re-filling their drink bottles from small puddles.

The hope for a miracle is also held by the wider community who wish for an extraordinary tale of survival.

However, Mr Fairfax’s case is sadly complicated by his Parkinson’s disease. He has been without his medication since he went missing, which would cause him to seize up.

Police made the difficult decision on Thursday to suspend the search, saying, after consulting with international experts, that it was unlikely he would be found alive.

In many ways not knowing, wondering what has happened, is harder than having bad news confirmed.

One’s mind turns to the myriad of missing people cases in Tasmania, Australia and around the world.

Cases like Launceston boy Craig Taylor who went missing from his family’s shack in the state’s south in 1993. He would be 34 years old now.

Or Eve Askew who was 14 when she ran away from home in 1991, never to be seen again.

While those cases are different examples of missing persons, they raise the same question: just how do people go on with the pain and anxiety of not knowing their loved one’s fate?

And while they both involve children, the fact that Mr Fairfax is an adult does not diminish the hurt and worry felt by those close to him who want to know what has happened.

The community wishes Mr Fairfax’s family and friends all the best and sincerely hopes they will find answers.