Possible Clues:

• Stricken
• Stricken student needs help with depression
• Stayed out of sight - is that what the bird did?
• Went into hiding
• Sick learners without help cry, expressing pain
• Learners without financial support — it hurts, making one sick
• Affected by illness after fifty, help will be falling short
• *Like eggs on the ground instead of in the nest?
• Six feet under -- or heading that way?
• Incapacitated