‘Treasure and listen to your children’
A DEVASTATED mother who lost her teenage son to suicide has pleaded with parents to “treasure your children”.
Rebecca Griffin also told how the village of Duleek in Co Meath offered her “real community spirit” after her 14-year-old son Ryan killed himself in 2022.
Now Rebecca, husband Shane and son Dylan are preparing to host their first ‘official’ Darkness into Light walk next month, after two ‘unofficial’ walks for Pieta House led to the biggest turnouts for the event in the county.
“February 2nd, 2022, was a horrendous day for the family and a day that we will never forget for all the wrong reasons,” Rebecca said.
“We don’t know what happened with Ryan and we will probably never know.
“I think it was a moment of madness. I think children live in the moment and never take time to see that there is a way out of everything.
“We are walking the Darkness Into Light route along the way that Ryan used to walk his dog Bailey every day during lockdown.
“When he died, we had so many people from the village calling and leaving food and dog biscuits outside the house and just offering us any help we could possibly need. That’s when you realise what true community spirit is.
“After he died we decided to do a Darkness into Light walk but it was too late to register. We decided we’d do one anyway and donate to Pieta House who gave us so much help.
“We put a quick post up on social media, not really expecting anyone. But we opened the door that morning and there were hundreds of people standing in front of our house, wanting to support us. We were blown away.
“This year, our walk is an official Darkness into Light.”
She added: “I would say to any parent to treasure your children...take the time to talk to your children and really listen to them.”
See the Darkness Into Light Duleek Facebook page for more information.