Saturday, April 11, 2009

From His Mother

We are still finding it too hard to accept that Neil will not walk into the room again, or that I will not hear 'Hi Mum' at the end of a phone.

Neil would be highly amused to think that as a result of his untimely and totally unexpected death, his Mum is actually learning to access and use a Blog in his honour.

This is a first posting, and will not be the last, but as it is fairly late after an emotional day, and we have to get up at 5.0am tomorrow morning to travel to Bristol to pick up his girlfriend Emma, I will desist in writing anything further tonight.

Suffice to say that I heartily endorse all that Anna has already written, and I will be returning to communicate further about our wonderful son, Neil.

photos of Neil

From his sister Anna

Suddenly, and tragically, my amazing brother Neil died unexpectedly at home on Thursday 9th April aged 34.

The circumstances surrounding his death are still unclear and to date 'unexplained', but we know that there was no one else involved. He was a healthy young man, living his life to the full, with no idea of what was around the corner.

Obviously it has come as a huge shock to his girlfriend and soulmate Emma whom he lives with, and all of his family. We are deeply shocked not only by his death, but with struggling to work out what may have happened to him. At this point all we can do is guess really, which is too painful to contemplate, so trying to avoid until we get some facts.

I cannot say out loud the circumstances surrounding his death, so my apologies to anyone who reads this who I should be speaking to, instead of hiding behind my keyboard.

In brief he was found by Emma, who had kissed him as she left earlier in the day, for a day out with a friend. She came home later and noticed something that raised her suspicion. On searching the house she found him in the bath with his face in the water.

Her attempts to ressucitate Neil were in vain, as she knew (and it was confirmed by paramedices that had attended) that he had been dead for some time. The situation must have been horrific in the extreme, and Emma's physical strength to get him out of the bath, and her emotional strength to try to revive him are awesome. Thank you for that Emma, on top of all you will have to go through now and in the future in your grief and your sorrow, I am so sorry that you will also have to live with the memory of finding him.

We were all in Greece with Minas' family when we got the news, and faced a long and traumatic journey home for the absolute worst possible reason. We had to keep a lid on our emotion, as did not want to alarm or tell the girls until we got home and were able to talk to them properly. At times this was impossible, and the physical ache, and strength of our grief was not always able to be kept below the surface. Now at least we are home, and taking every comfort we can from each other.

Please don't be shy to see or speak to me, I may cry (or wail), but I want to acknowledge what has happened, and would hate english embarrassment to stop people form being open and honest. The greeks don't do it that way, they are open, forthright, practical, and caring in their very tender way. i had people who I hardly know, hugging me and looking in my eyes to acknowledge that pain.

A pain that is indescribable at losing my dear, dear Neil. I love you so much, wherever you are.