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 Like
a lot of others at that time we were so wrapped up in our own little
world, oblivious to the things that happen to so many. Then it was our
turn - a sudden phone call which changes our lives forever. Now we want
to tell everyone our story and let everyone in on our grief and loss.
Sometimes we cannot understand how others are going on, when we find it
so difficult to move on.
We
thought it would be an ideal opportunity to help raise awareness this
year, and when we had the chance to have a table in the St. Govan’s
Shopping Centre in Pembroke Dock (two years to the date since Graham
died), we jumped at the chance to let others know about CRY and all that
it involves.
We were
delighted with the amount of people who stopped to chat to us while we
explained our story. A lot of hearts were touched and a few donations
were given to CRY.
Giving
out leaflets and telling so many people our story came quite naturally
after a while and we were delighted that so many people stopped to read
the posters up around the centre.
Sometimes you are given a leaflet whilst out shopping and you tend to
pop it into the nearest bin without even glancing at what it was for. We
were delighted that there were no CRY leaflets dumped in bins, and we
were delighted when we saw how many people would walk away and glance
through the leaflet before putting it in their pockets and bags. We were
so delighted that people came back and told us their stories.
Hopefully the message has got through to others and they too will help
spread the word. It is an awful thing to think that it takes an incident
to bring reality to life.
Graham
is one of many young people who went before his time. He left two
wonderful young children behind who will now be monitored over the most
important years of their lives. We hope that the awareness week has
attracted enough interest that the government will insist on screening
for all our young.
We
thank everyone who helped us raise awareness on that day and thank CRY
for all they do to help towards preventing others from finding out about
it the way our family did.
Paula Otton
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