Alys Cann
ShoutoutforAlfie - our dearly missed young friend.
Fundraising for PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide
Story
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. My name is Alys Cann.
My good friend Alfie took his own life in April 2018. He would've turned 15 on 13 July 2018. His mum went to see the Arctic Monkeys in Madrid on his birthday. She tried to get the band to give him a shout out - hence the name of our page! Although we didn’t manage to get the shout-out the amount of support both me and Gemma received on Twitter was amazing. The tweet reached 745 retweets! Many people who knew Alfie through the twitter / gaming world reached out to us. We can’t thank any of them enough for the on going support and kind words during this very difficult time. https://twitter.com/mediationwales/status/1006480441665257472
None of us really know why Alfie took his own life. So instead all of us want to concentrate our energy on celebrating all that Alfie managed to achieve while he was here with us.
Alfie was a really cool, interesting and thoughtful kid. We've known him for almost all of his life. He grew up around the corner from us. Most of our time spent together was outdoors when we were all really young and then lately, playing Just Dance! Alfie also tried to teach us to play Minecraft!
Alfie was a really talented artist. He went under @qalasprojects
https://twitter.com/qalasprojects?lang=en
You can see some of his designs getting hundreds of likes. He also showcased his work on other social media sites. Many really influential people within the design community have paid tributes to Alfie on their own pages. This can be seen if you search qalas or #shoutoutforalfie.
Here is a fantastic example of a tribute made by one of Alfie's close friends on twitter - https://youtu.be/QYTAnnm2_TI
Alfie wanted to be a graphic designer. He taught himself how to photoshop and loved taking photos. You can see some of his work at: https://qalas.carbonmade.com. He dreamt of going to the Rhode Island School of Design! Even though his mum thought the fees might make that a bit unrealistic!!
Alfie was a budding young actor. He had just played the lead role of Bill Sykes in the school production of Oliver. Alfie was an extra in Kurt Stutter's FX series The Bastard Executioner. Alfie and his mum also appeared in the BBC 3 drama "Thirteen". You will soon be able to see Alfie in the upcoming Sky TV production of "A Discovery of Witches".
Alfie leaves behind a large family stretched across England and Wales. He had loads of great friends in school and online. Everyone is devastated and misses him terribly.
His mum made sure that he got a proper send off with a real celebration that included balloons, Post Malone and the Gorillaz as well as a communal singalong to "All My Life" by the Beatles.
Alfie was cool to the very end! And we love him x
Since I found out about Alfie, I've been really shocked by the statistics surrounding suicide in the UK. It's the biggest single cause of death for men under the age of 45 in the UK. Men are three times more likely to take their own life than women. 84 men take their own life each week leaving behind many hundreds of people affected by every death.
I decided to run a 10K because this is a challenge for me! I would have never dreamt of running a 10K, before I started my training I could barely run a mile. A 10K is 6.2 miles.. in the end I came in the top half in the women’s under 20s category! That’s something I will always be proud of. I have my boyfriend Tom to thank for words of encouragement along the whole way!
Tom and I are both passionate about raising awareness of mental health issues within young people, especially young men. So we want to raise as much money as we can to support the great work that PAPYRUS does. The charity aims to reduce the number of young people who take their own lives by shattering the stigma around suicide and giving young people and their communities the skills to recognise and respond to suicidal behaviour.
And finally a BIG THANK YOU to those of you who helped us get to 1000 pounds! This is a massive achievement for me, the funds we have raised will definitely make a difference to a lot of people. That was my main aim.
I wish Alfie could have seen the mass amount of support we have received, wherever he is I’m sure he’s grateful to every single person who has donated. After all, this was all for him, a very special, talented boy who left us too soon.
Thank you for helping me to honour Alfie’s memory in this way, a happy, positive and beneficial way. It means a lot that all this money will be donated in his name.
My good friend Alfie took his own life in April 2018. He would've turned 15 on 13 July 2018. His mum went to see the Arctic Monkeys in Madrid on his birthday. She tried to get the band to give him a shout out - hence the name of our page! Although we didn’t manage to get the shout-out the amount of support both me and Gemma received on Twitter was amazing. The tweet reached 745 retweets! Many people who knew Alfie through the twitter / gaming world reached out to us. We can’t thank any of them enough for the on going support and kind words during this very difficult time. https://twitter.com/mediationwales/status/1006480441665257472
None of us really know why Alfie took his own life. So instead all of us want to concentrate our energy on celebrating all that Alfie managed to achieve while he was here with us.
Alfie was a really cool, interesting and thoughtful kid. We've known him for almost all of his life. He grew up around the corner from us. Most of our time spent together was outdoors when we were all really young and then lately, playing Just Dance! Alfie also tried to teach us to play Minecraft!
Alfie was a really talented artist. He went under @qalasprojects
https://twitter.com/qalasprojects?lang=en
You can see some of his designs getting hundreds of likes. He also showcased his work on other social media sites. Many really influential people within the design community have paid tributes to Alfie on their own pages. This can be seen if you search qalas or #shoutoutforalfie.
Here is a fantastic example of a tribute made by one of Alfie's close friends on twitter - https://youtu.be/QYTAnnm2_TI
Alfie wanted to be a graphic designer. He taught himself how to photoshop and loved taking photos. You can see some of his work at: https://qalas.carbonmade.com. He dreamt of going to the Rhode Island School of Design! Even though his mum thought the fees might make that a bit unrealistic!!
Alfie was a budding young actor. He had just played the lead role of Bill Sykes in the school production of Oliver. Alfie was an extra in Kurt Stutter's FX series The Bastard Executioner. Alfie and his mum also appeared in the BBC 3 drama "Thirteen". You will soon be able to see Alfie in the upcoming Sky TV production of "A Discovery of Witches".
Alfie leaves behind a large family stretched across England and Wales. He had loads of great friends in school and online. Everyone is devastated and misses him terribly.
His mum made sure that he got a proper send off with a real celebration that included balloons, Post Malone and the Gorillaz as well as a communal singalong to "All My Life" by the Beatles.
Alfie was cool to the very end! And we love him x
Since I found out about Alfie, I've been really shocked by the statistics surrounding suicide in the UK. It's the biggest single cause of death for men under the age of 45 in the UK. Men are three times more likely to take their own life than women. 84 men take their own life each week leaving behind many hundreds of people affected by every death.
I decided to run a 10K because this is a challenge for me! I would have never dreamt of running a 10K, before I started my training I could barely run a mile. A 10K is 6.2 miles.. in the end I came in the top half in the women’s under 20s category! That’s something I will always be proud of. I have my boyfriend Tom to thank for words of encouragement along the whole way!
Tom and I are both passionate about raising awareness of mental health issues within young people, especially young men. So we want to raise as much money as we can to support the great work that PAPYRUS does. The charity aims to reduce the number of young people who take their own lives by shattering the stigma around suicide and giving young people and their communities the skills to recognise and respond to suicidal behaviour.
And finally a BIG THANK YOU to those of you who helped us get to 1000 pounds! This is a massive achievement for me, the funds we have raised will definitely make a difference to a lot of people. That was my main aim.
I wish Alfie could have seen the mass amount of support we have received, wherever he is I’m sure he’s grateful to every single person who has donated. After all, this was all for him, a very special, talented boy who left us too soon.
Thank you for helping me to honour Alfie’s memory in this way, a happy, positive and beneficial way. It means a lot that all this money will be donated in his name.