My little brother Jak sadly took his life on the 19th of February 2019 at the age of 14 years old. Jak was an incredibly happy, fun, bright and caring young man who had his whole life ahead of him. Jak loved life deeply and spent days on end helping anyone and everyone in any way he could. Jak would always make sure that everyone was okay even before even thinking about himself. Although my little brothers life was filled with people who loved and cherished him so dearly, he did have his fair share of struggles. Jak was diagnosed with autism at a young age and at times this presented him with struggles in his life. He struggle quite badly with some other kids around him who would often taunt and bully him for who he was. Jak couldn't help having autism, neither did he see that it made him any different from other children however for some others they did see him as different and treated him as such and then because of this would mock him and miss treat him. Jak never let his autism overcome him and with each new boundary and obstacle that presented it's self he would find a way to battle it down and work through it or at times around it. My little brother never saw himself as less than anyone else and in turn he would never treat anyone else as less than either, he saw no divide between people that can sometimes present it's self in modern society. For him he never saw age, colour, background, culture, gender, disability, race or anything else for that matter. He cared for each person on an individual level regardless and in his true fashion was never afraid to ask questions and to learn about others. Jak was special and gave his all in everything he did, He treated the world as one big adventure and was always happy to explore.

Unfortunately although Jak loved the world and everything/everyone around him there were certain sets of individuals that made his life very difficult at times and would often bully him severely all because he didn't act like other kids his age or didn't do the things other kids his age did. After a long battle with bullies Jak felt that his only way to escape was to end his own life and on the evening of the 19th of February he did just that. This date will forever be etched into my heart and soul and will be one date I will never forget. The pain of losing a brother especially one that is so much younger than myself is unimaginable and should never be a situation someone should be in, especially under the circumstances. in order to help me work through and process what has happened to both myself and my family I have taken the decision to start to fundraise for autism in a bid to raise awareness and to try and prevent any more young children from loosing their lives for just being themselves in their own special way. Throughout the year I will be doing additional fundraising activities and also spend time raising awareness for autism as well as taking part in the abseil for autism at the end of the year.

Any amount of money you are willing to donate to my cause will be greatly appreciated. And hopefully by banding together and standing strong as Parent's, Grandparent's siblings, Cousins, Aunt's, Uncles, Nephew's, Nieces, friends, Partners we will make everyone understand and we will not stop UNTIL EVERYONE UNDERTSAND'S