What A Waste

One moment Caitlyn Hardy, 19, from Jarrow, was dancing with her fella. The next, she was battling to save his life

- Kristy Dawson, Cher Heasmer

On Good Friday 2017, I was looking forward to a night out with friends.

My boyfriend Lewis Knapp, 20, had plans to meet his mates, too, so we decided to meet up later.

Me and Lewis, who everyone knew as ‘Lewi’, had been together since April 2015, after meeting at a party.

We’d spent the whole night chatting and laughing. The spark between us was instant and we quickly became an item.

A few months into our relationship, I’d moved in with Lewi and his mum Michelle, 46.

Waking up to him every day was amazing.

Lewi worked hard at Washington steelworks, while I was finishing an Admin apprenticeship.

Every day, he’d take me to work in the morning, then pick me up in the evening. ‘You’re inseparable,’ friends would laugh.

Lewi and I dreamed about moving in to our own flat one day, getting married and having kids.

And Lewi promised to take me to Florida in the future, too.

‘You’ll love it,’ he’d say, telling me about the family holidays he’d had there as a kid.

Lewi was my soul mate and I felt so lucky to have him.

But, although we spent a lot of time together, we still made an effort to see our friends.

The Easter bank-holiday weekend was no different.

I met my mates at a friend’s house and then, an hour later, we met up with Lewi and his mates before heading to Roxanne’s nightclub in South Shields.

There we had a few more drinks and a dance.

We were having so much fun that we didn’t notice how late it was.

But at 4am, the club closed and Lewi and I agreed to make a move.

We headed out of the club with Lewi’s friend Curtis, then 20, and started walking up the street together.

I was a few steps ahead of the others and decided to head towards the taxi rank over the road.