A GRIEVING mother has set up a website in a bid to support others who have lost loved ones through drug or alcohol addiction.
Sue Foreman’s son, Martin, died in 2007 aged 23 after a troubled life including criminal convictions and problems with his mental and physical health.
Since then Sue, who lives in Shaftesbury, said she has found it difficult to find the help she needs to come to terms with his death.
So she has set up lossthroughaddiction.com in a bid to meet others in a similar position.
“There is a need for this because there is very little out there for people who have lost loved ones in this way” she said. “If you go to a support group where people have died of cancer, in an accident or fighting in Afghanistan, it is difficult to start talking about someone who has died through addiction.
“I would eventually like to set up a group where people can meet without having to explain the background and how it happens, where it is just accepted that someone has died in this way.”
Martin was born in Boscombe Hospital and went to school in Burton, Christchurch, before moving first to Darlington and then to Shaftesbury, where he attended Abbey First School, the former King Alfred’s Middle School and Shaftesbury Upper School.
Despite excelling academically, he found it difficult to make friends and, after leaving school, started to drink heavily and take drugs. When he died in April 2007, he had 25 convictions for affray.
Sue added: “Due to their addiction we may have had a difficult relationship with our loved one while they were alive – their life may not have been a happy one.”
She stressed she is not offering professional help but friendship and support.
