We’re determined Mero’s life will make a difference
FAMILY OF STAB VICTIM’S HOPE AS ‘BLEED KIT’ UNVEILED
A ‘BLEED kit’ has been installed at a health centre in memory of a stabbing victim – and to help save young lives.
From January 2021 to January 2022, Greater Manchester saw at least one stabbing a week where the victim or alleged perpetrator was a teenager.
In the first month of this year alone, two young boys under 18 lost their lives to knife crime.
Kennie Carter, 16, was stabbed in Stretford and later died in January 2022. Rhamero West, also 16, died after he was stabbed in Old Trafford in September 2021.
In response to this escalating problem, Trafford now has its first bleed kit to help stabbing victims until parademics arrive. The cabinet has been installed at the Limelight health and wellbeing hub in Old Trafford in memory of Rhamero, just around the corner from where he was fatally stabbed.
Since Rhamero’s death, his cousin Deanne Brown has been working to raise awareness of knife crime in the community and was an integral part of the fundraising effort for the bleed safety cabinets.
When the first bleed cabinet was installed in Manchester in February, she said: “For me, it’s not just about raising awareness, we also need to educate people – parents as well as children.
“I’ve got a five-year-old son and it’s massively impacted him.
“We’re determined that Mero’s life will make a difference when it comes to creating a safer future for young children as well.
“I’m excited about taking this step and doing my part to help ensure other families don’t have to go through the pain that we have.”
The latest cabinet was unveiled at Limelight, run by Trafford Housing Trust, by Rhamero’s mother Kelly Brown, alongside local MP Kate Green, Greater Manchester Police Chief Superintendent Colette Rose, and Trafford Housing Trust’s extra care and community manager Sarah Millican.
Kelly said: “Rhamero is greatly missed not only by myself and our family but by his friends and the community. We’ve been doing monthly marches around different areas within Manchester to raise awareness for knife crime and we are in the process of setting up our charity, Merosworld Foundation”.