On 16th February 2015 at 13.09 p.m. our lives changed forever, it was the day our “Beautiful Daughter Sammy” passed away.

Sammy was 25 and had been suffering (Silently) from “Severe Depression” for the last 5-6 years…unfortunately 0n the 16th February 2015 Sammy lost her battle with this “Silent Illness” and passed away after having taken her own life. The loss of Sammy has left us “Completely Devastated and Heartbroken”.

Sammy has been described by many as an “Angel” because she had such a “Beautiful Soul”, Sammy would always put other people before herself in spite of what she was going through and she would help anyone out if they had a problem or she saw they were struggling with something.

Sammy would always see the best in people…and although everyone could see what a beautiful person Sammy was inside and out! unfortunately (due to her illness) she couldn’t see it herself. Although on the outside Sammy always had a smile on her face and appeared “Happy and Bubbly”, on the inside her illness “The Depression” told a different story…unfortunately as with so many sufferers of this illness Sammy learnt to “Put up a Front” so we were unaware of how serious her illness was.

The day of Sammy`s funeral was the hardest day of our lives but despite that we wanted to give Sammy the send-off she deserved!, there were well over 400 people at the church (a true testament to how many people loved her) and many more who wanted to come but were either out of the country or couldn’t get away from work or university.

At the cemetery everyone released a Purple Balloon (as that was one of Sammy`s favourite colours)…a friend had given Sammy`s mum a Star Shaped balloon to release as she was too upset to go to the cemetery, when she released the balloon another balloon released (by Sammy`s godfather) collided with it and sent the Star Shaped balloon into a tree where it still remains today…we took that as a sign that Sammy new we needed her to stay close to us.

Any loss of a loved one is hard but the loss of a child is so traumatic and unless someone has suffered that loss they can`t understand what you are feeling or going through… that is where You Raise Me Up are providing such vital support and counselling for families.

Shortly after Sammy had passed away a neighbour had made us aware of the You Raise Me Up charity. Sammy`s sister contacted the charity and they have given us much needed counselling and Support…we really can`t thank Jane, Fraser and everyone else involved with the charity enough.

Rob, Julie and Ashleigh

Xxxx