Grantham man’s Great North Run for stepdaughter who took own life

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Family handout A man with short brown hair, stubble and rectangular glasses is wearing a blue top and smiling on a sofa with his arm around a teenager. The teenager has her mouth open laughing with braces and has blonde hair tied back, a white top and black leggings. Their hands are entwined. Next to them is a shelf with cards and books on it.Family handout

Jack Swift will take part in the Great North Run on Sunday in memory of his stepdaughter Evelyn Gibson

A stepdad has said he would “never stop” trying to help others after his 15-year-old stepdaughter took her own life.

Jenni and Jack Swift, from Grantham, are mum and stepdad to Evelyn Gibson who died in 2022. The teenager had a history of complex mental health issues.

On Sunday, Mr Swift, 38, will take part in the Great North Run – a half marathon from Newcastle to South Shields – in memory of Evelyn. He will be raising money for suicide prevention charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM).

“We will never stop trying to help anyone who is going through anything difficult,” he said.

An inquest held last year into Evelyn’s death found inadequate aftercare support contributed to the “extremely vulnerable” teenager taking her own life six weeks after being discharged from hospital.

Earlier this year, in collaboration with CALM and ITV, Jenni and Jack created a YouTube video of Evelyn leading up to what would have been her 16th birthday in a bid to raise awareness of youth suicide in the UK.

Family handout A man with short brown hair and stubble is sat on a blanket on grass with his knees up and hands around them and is wearing a dark top and shorts. He is laughing and leaning to the side where a young girl with curly blonde has her hand around him and head thrown back laughing. She is wearing a red and white striped top and beige trousers. Family handout

Jack Swift said he “never gets tired” of describing what Evelyn was like as a person

Mr Swift said he decided to take part in the run after a conversation with Simon Gunning, CALM’s chief executive.

It would be “quite a challenge” despite being an avid runner, said Mr Swift.

He added: “It will very much be Evelyn in my mind [during the run].

“She said to us on a couple of occasions, when she was really struggling, that she didn’t want anyone else to go through what she was having to go through.

“That is a bit of a constant in our lives, if we can help in some way then we will.”

Mr Swift added that the run would be “a small way to hopefully help somebody”.

Family handout A man with short brown hair, stubble and rectangular glasses smiling wearing a black wetsuit. He has his hand around a young girl with curly blonde hair tied back who is giving a big smile and also wearing a black wetsuit. A marquee can be seen behind them as well as a lake and people dotted about to the right.Family handout

Jack Swift said Evelyn had told him she did not want anyone else to go through what she did

Mr Swift said he “never gets tired” of describing what Evelyn was like as a person and said she was “awesome” and “the most incredible person”.

“There’s a part of her that would be very proud, I’m sure of that.

“I also think the fact I’m doing it in her memory would also be quite embarrassing for her. She’d want the ground to swallow her up a little bit.”

Following the release of the YouTube video, Mrs Swift said there was an “inherent fear” around discussing suicide, but that talking about it can lead to “better communication”.

Ahead of his run, Mr Swift said that normalising conversations around suicide “is getting better but it can still be improved”.

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