Role model who gives tormented teens hope
TWenty-tWo years ago, on a balmy summer night, Shaun russell received the worst news of his life.
Frantic with worry that his wife Lin and daughters had not come home from the brownies, he was letting two police officers into his home. one of them said: ‘i’m sorry to have to tell you we have found your family, not far from here. i’m afraid none of them has survived.’
his wife and megan, six, had been bludgeoned to death with a hammer, along with their dog. Josie, then nine, miraculously survived despite horrific head injuries. Later Shaun recalled seeing her in hospital: ‘her eyes were black and blue and tight shut, but the freckles across her nose above the oxygen mask, i knew: “it’s Josie.” ‘here was my reason for living.’ this week, a poised and lovely Josie, now 31 and engaged, appeared on itV’s Lorraine show, giving us a remarkable lesson in the optimism and courage of the human spirit.
She and her fiancé are living in the original family home in the Welsh hills she used to share with her parents and sister before they moved to Kent, where the attack happened. a home that, she says, holds so many happy memories.
Josie today is a successful textile artist and she’s turned her old bedroom into a studio. She refuses to dwell on the horrific events that would seem utterly insurmountable to most of us: ‘i don’t remember very much, she said. ‘We just carried on with life. We went out and did normal teenage stuff. i’m not a victim, i’m not a survivor. i’m just me.’
asked how she overcame the tragedy she added: ‘i think being really, really busy. i just get on with life and just carry on. i love my job, it’s all fine. happy.’
Josie’s story came in the week one report said that a quarter of teenage girls are suffering from depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. another shockingly revealed that one in four 14-year-old girls self-harm.
i am not for a moment denigrating these girls who are clearly suffering, subjected as they are to many pressures — not least the constant hateful judgment of their peers on social media.
my point is that Josie gives them hope. She proves you can overcome adversity, no matter how terrible. Far from indulging in victimhood and self-pity, she is determined to make the best of her life.
her greatest joy today, apart from planning life with her fiancé, is her mum’s pony, rosie, which she used to ride as a child. ‘now rosie’s quite old, i take her for walks,’ she said.
What a tribute she is to her father Shaun. and what a role model for troubled young girls everywhere.