20th September 1996 – 28th April 2013.
Conor was a happy, fun loving, intelligent young boy, who never wanted more than he needed; he had his whole life ahead of him and had hoped to be a fireman.
On the 26th April 2013 my husband and I dropped Conor to his nan’s were he was to spend the weekend with his older brother Christopher. On Saturday 27th he spent the day at work on the building site with Chris and some of his cousins, apparently loving the banter and having a good laugh with everyone, after they went off for a drink at a local pub were they played a few games of pool. When Conor arrived home he had pizza, my mom said he had been little unwell with an upset stomach. At about 2.00 in the morning my mom was woken as Conor had gone the toilet, she asked if he was ok and then she offered to sit with him downstairs on the other sofa, about 3.00 in the morning he made a funny noise and stopped breathing, an ambulance was called and they managed to bring Conor back. At hospital Conor was put into a induced sleep while they did scans of the brain and heart tests, unfortunately when they brought Conor out of the sleep he went into Cardiac Arrest again and this time sadly they could not bring him back.
We arrived at the hospital to be told (now in a state of shock) that Conor had passed away. To say what followed was like a thunder bolt hitting you straight through the heart, to be shown your beautiful child still warm but not breathing is the most devastating thing ever and the emotions cannot be put into words. His sister Hannah was out of the country and was due back on the Sunday afternoon and she had to be told, a family ripped apart by grief and pain is not nice to see, as much as you try and put a brave face on things the cracks always appear.
After a long 3 week wait we were allowed to have Conor back and put him to rest, with the help of his school teachers, pupils and friends Conor was finally buried and if this can be said his funeral was beautiful, with all his friend lining up with a guard of honour, doing the readings and singing in the choir, one of his favourite teachers reading a beautiful euliogy. His sister recorded ‘Ain’t No Sunshine When He’s Gone’ which was played as Conor was carried by his dad, brother, cousins and uncles out of the church.
Seven months on we received the post mortem result, Conor had died from SADS, no cause of death.
It is strange how life can go on yet time stands still, to us it seems like yesterday since we saw that perfect smiling face.
You think you’re coping well until something comes along to knock you back of your feet, this week was Conor’s 18th birthday, all the thoughts of what he would be doing, would he have a girlfriend, would he be going to university and mostly what he would now look like.
Whatever Conor would be doing he would makes all very proud.
Always in our hearts and thoughts, your loving family xxxx
