Family back charity’s work after losing son

Mum Kathy Lynch is working with the PAPYRUS trust to raise money for youth suicide prevention following the tragic death of her son Harrison in 2023 at the age of 20.

- BY ELLIOT JESSETT

Kathy Lynch, right, with her daughter Jess and a picture of her son Harrison.

“We were just a normal, working family” she says as she recounts the worst day of her life. “You think it's not going to happen to you, but the reality is that it does.

“One of his friends was gaming with Harrison the night before he died and she said he was absolutely fine, laughing and joking.

“So you're left with a thousand questions and the sheer weight of the loss is indescribable, the not knowing why, it’s like an open wound that’s never going to heal.”

According to friends and family, Harrison seemed to be a happy young man, full of life and with big ambitions.

He was working a job he loved at The Weld Blundell restaurant in Lydiate and was hoping to work his way up.

Kathy said Harrison was very intelligent and an avid gamer who even built his own computer.

He was also quiet, she adds, shunning nights out in the city centre to play games online with his friends.

For Kathy and so many others left behind after someone dies by suicide, there were no signs of the traumatic events which would come to shape the rest of their lives.

“There was nothing really untoward, there was nothing to suggest that he was going do anything and he was really open and honest.