Left Behind TheJournal.ie

Karen Docherty lost both of her sons to suicide in the space of two and a half years. Her eldest son Stephen took his own life at the age of 30, after years of struggling with drug addiction. Two years later her younger son Graham also died by suicide.

Since Graham’s death, Karen has been working to highlight the need for better access to mental health services and stronger support for families affected by suicide.

She does not want another mother to experience what she went through.

Christina Donnelly’s son Brendan was on his way to the airport with friends to fly to Amsterdam when a drunk driver crashed head on into their car.

Both Brendan and his best friend Lee were killed instantly. The driver left the scene at the time, but was later jailed. He had consumed excessive amounts of alcohol and had done a line of cocaine before he got behind the wheel.

Christina has set out to change the laws in this country to protect people from reckless drivers. Her determination and willingness to share her story has already yielded results.

When Stephen Teap’s wife Irene was diagnosed with cervical cancer, she fought the disease, determined to stay around as long as possible for their young boys Oscar and Noah.

But the cancer spread to her liver and lungs, and in the summer of 2017 Irene passed away, before she got the chance to see Oscar start school.

In May this year, Stephen learned something about his wife's death that had previously not been disclosed - Irene was one of the 221 women affected by the CervicalCheck scandal who had been given false smear test results.

We spoke to Stephen as part of a new podcast by TheJournal.ie called Left Behind.

When tragedy strikes, it so often falls to families to fight for answers, for change, for justice.

In this new series, TheJournal.ie speaks to those accidental campaigners about their attempts to make sure other families never have to experience their pain.

Where did they find the strength? And has it robbed them of their chance to grieve for their loss?

The Left Behind series by TheJournal.ie will be available to download soon.