From the wonderful stories and messages we have received in the past few weeks, James touched a lot of people's lives. Some saw his Dennis the Menace side, some got his protective brotherly side and some just enjoyed his endless cups of tea and banter. But after all the struggles of his first 28 years, he used them and decided to help others. He was able to speak out about homelessness, mental illness and addiction.

 He wasn’t just preaching to tell people to be better. He had been through it and survived, he was willing to give people his painful story. He wasn’t ashamed or embarrassed, he wanted to help by saying “I’ve been there, I know, I understand and it's not easy”. He knew what needed to be done and he set out to fix things. 

There is no denying that I will have a hole in my heart for the rest of my life. I am honoured to have shared my life with someone so generous of heart, so outspoken, so funny. He will be rolling his eyes and calling me a soft arse but he made me so much stronger than I would have been, he taught me so much more about real life than anyone else dared to mention. 

He had stinky feet but wore flip flops, he coughed his lungs up but smoked like a trooper, he swore too much but taught my boys how to be polite and not argue with their mother (who is always right!) and he wore floral shirts in the middle of winter. He was a contradiction to life and was more like Jesus than any Christian I’ve ever met. He had just one simple message – be kind and don’t take any crap from anyone. You’re worth so much more.

If James and my parents had been given the support of a charity like ADD-Vance there is a chance that his life may have turned down different paths. Please support this incredible charity who have helped our family so much over the past decade. As Catching Lives were James' past, so ADD-Vance is our children's future.   

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.