The ashes of a dad who took his own life were scattered in Creamfields by DJ Tiësto in an extraordinary climax to the festival.
Dad-of-one Stuart Mitchell, 30, died in July to suicide, leaving behind three-year-old Oliver.
His sister Laura Mitchell, 32, said she was his best friend and described her younger brother as ‘just so funny and a lovely person’.
Keen gamer Stuart lived in Norwich where he worked for Aviva and played airsoft as a hobby with friends.
She told Metro.co.uk: ‘I’m sure he just struggled and it’s awful. People hide depression incredibly well.
‘He obviously had demons. I don’t know why he took his life. It’s a question that my family will never have answers to.
‘If you’re not communicating with your family, please talk to someone, don’t be alone.’
Stuart’s family sold his Creamfields tickets and the buyers, Ryan Millen and cousin Liam Millen, said they were ‘rocked to their cores’ when they learnt his story.
The duo had a ‘celebration of life’ banner with Stuart’s name and picture printed and carried it around with them at the weekend’s August bank holiday festival.
It read: ‘This last dance is for you mate.’
Stuart’s dad Julian had another request: that the duo took his son’s ashes with them.
After sending the tickets, he posted a portion of Stuart’s ashes in a separate sealed envelope and asked the Millens to scatter them ‘so that he truly went there one last time’.
They went one further, getting on the phone to festival management to arrange for Tiësto to load the ashes up into a confetti cannon on the stage and fire them into the crowd of thousands during his headline act.
Ryan said: ‘Words cannot express our gratitude to his family for allowing us, to everyone who listened to his story and took pictures with the banner, and most importantly to the Creamfields production team for going above and beyond to accommodate us and go out of their way to allow us to honour his memory in such a fitting way.
‘Stuart Mitchell, we are humbled to have been allowed to help you complete your journey with us.
‘You will forever be a part of one of your favourite places. A piece of you always be with Creamfields.’
Despite having never met the Mitchells, Ryan spoke with Stuart’s mum Sharon via FaceTime.
She said he’s ‘family now’ and they hope to arrange to meet in person one day.
Ryan has raised more than £1,000 for suicide prevention charity Papyrus and is running a separate GoFundMe page to create a memorial to Stuart.
Laura, a web designer who lives in Liverpool, and elder sister Joanna said they are thankful for what Ryan and his cousin did – and that their brother was just like them.
She told Metro.co.uk: ‘He’d have gone out his way to show love and support to a family, he’d have made sure that person got to Creamfields.
‘So how strange, or perfect it is that his tickets landed in the right hands. It’s like a weird blessing.’
MORE : This World Suicide Prevention Day, I don’t want to hear you say ‘It’s OK not to be OK’
MORE : Suicide rate in England and Wales reaches highest level for 14 years
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
0 Commentaires