The mission has been full throttle since my little brother, Cam, devastatingly took his own life at the age of 20. 

There is ever growing groups of fantastic people on this Island who have been relentlessly pushing to break the stigma and support those who are struggling. 

I am honoured to shared this common goal with these amazing people - it feels like momentum is building and positive change is on the horizon. 

Many of us strongly feel early intervention is absolutely essential to help people feel more comfortable in society. Hence the ‘Cam-Pain’ for Resilience Education within the curriculum. 

THE STATISTICS 

50% … OF ALL MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES ARE DEVELOPED BY THE AGE OF 14!

YES… HALF! OF ALL MH ISSUES ARE ALREADY DEVELOPED BY THE AGE OF 14!

WE ARE WAITING  UNTIL PEOPLE BECOME TOO UNCOMFORTABLE BEFORE  WE HELP THEM.

ITS LIKE RUNING A BATH AND WAITING FOR THE WATER TO SPILLOVER THE EDGE.

THEN PLACING BUCKETS AROUND THE BATH TO CATCH THE WATER.

In this case, the water represents those in society who are feeling uncomfortable.

The buckets represents our fantastic services and charities who catch and turn things around for people.

The water that misses the buckets represents people like my little brother and everyone else taken too soon.

It’s a completely inefficient system and we all know it! 

It’s time to resolve the issue at source directly where the friction begins - before our 14 year olds become too uncomfortable.

Time to turn off the tap, pull the plug and reduce the amount of people suffering in society. 

I believe ACTIONS speak louder than words.

Therefore, goal has been to undertake some resilience  challenges to raise money for our fantastic, proactive intervention mental health charities.

2021 we kayaked around the Isle of Man and raised £13k 

The next challenge is to join a team of 12 brave (or insane!) people on a 110km, self supported, article circle snowshoe expedition - to raise money for a local charity at the forefront of intervention. Isle Listen. 

Please donate generously to help the cause. 

If you cannot donate, no worries whatsoever. Please kindly share the link to spread the word. This is as equally, if not more important. 

******TRIGGER WARNING******

My brother’s last night.

People who are suicidal, can be the people we least expect.

It could be anyone of our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, cousins, friends , neighbours or colleagues.

Sincerely..I hope with all my heart ❤️ that this  never happens to any of you 🙏 

My brother had some turbulent teenage years, at one stage he asked to live at my house and I said ‘no’…

…I said ‘no’  because he stole a packet of cigarettes from my partner at the time..

…if I knew then, what I know now

..I know, that at that moment

I should’ve put my arm around his shoulder and calmly said… ‘brother, come on.. tell me what’s really bothering you?’

I DID NOT DO THAT..   AND     IT     HURTS.

IT IS  REALLY…   REALLY…     PAINFUL.

HOWEVER..I know I cannot change the past… but I can… and WILL try to help the situation moving forward in his name. 

Following his teenage years, my brother appeared to have turned a corner. He became the life and soul of the party.

The sort of guy who would not hesitate to pick up a guitar in the corner of a room, and lift the spirit in the room. 

He was a good looking guy, talented, he had multiple jobs, friends and women after him.

My brother, had one of those infectious laughs, a giggle where, even if you didn’t you hear the punch line, you would laugh anyway it was that sort of infectious chuckle which spread around the room. 

In TT week 2019, it was perfect weather all week for the racing.

I met my brother for drinks at Bushy’s at the villa.

The atmosphere was fantastic.

There were bark chipping on the floor leading up to the stage.

The bands were playing great music, the sun was shining and the beers were going down beautifully.

Cam was with his mates, I was with mine, we all gelled and the banter was flowing.

Everyone was on great form, ESPECIALLY my brother.

It was the sort of night where you look around and everyone had a smile of their face, dancing and laughing - probably due to the great weather we were having. 

We even had fireworks later on.

When the beers caught up with me, I said to my little brother..

‘’I’ve had enough I need to go’’

He looked absolutely fine, chatting away laughing, he gave me a big hug.

The last thing he said to me was.. 

‘‘ye light weight.’’

He did his infectious giggle.

Off I went. 

Cam shared a taxi home home with his friend that night, they were laughing and joking with the taxi driver.

Shortly  after Cam got out of the cab, his friend  received a text off him..

It read…‘I   HATE    MYSELF’ 

The following morning I woke up to a knock at the door.

I peeled my head off the pillow hungover, I looked at my phone, the battery was dead.

I staggered over to the window, pulled the curtain back to see my mother at the front of the house.

I gingerly made myself downstairs and opened the door.

As soon as I locked eyes with my mother, I could tell something wasn’t right.

NOT IN A MILLION YEARS COULD I HAVE PREDICTED  WHAT SHE WAS ABOUT TO SAY.

MY LITTLE SMILING BROTHER, WHO I WAS WITH JUST A FEW HOURS EARLIER HAD TAKEN HIS OWN LIFE!

I DIDNT WANT TO BELIEVE IT.

I DROPPED TO MY KNEES AND CRIED MY EYES OUT HYSTERICALLY.

I DID NOT WANT TO BELIEVE I WOULD NEVER SEE MY LITTLE BROTHER AGAIN.

HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?

HE WAS THERE ONE MINUTE, THEN GONE THE NEXT.

ITS SO HARD TO WRAP YOUR HEAD AROUND. 

The ripple effect still affects the family today. 

Looking through his things, we found self help notes. Attempts to secretly try and help himself. 

He wrote things like..

..win the first battle in the morning 

..achieve something before you look at your phone 

..try to look at situations subjectively 

..get out of your head

Arguably..

If he had access to this information at the right time and knew the benefits of communicating and processing mental and emotional pain.. HE WOULD STILL BE HERE TODAY

Thank you for taking the time to read this. 

Let’s do the best we can to look after each other.

To Cam & all those taken too soon - we pledge to do our best to improve the society we live in and empower those around us to feel comfortable in their own skin.

If it works. 

Its right. 

✌️& ❤️ (…not war)