A young man who battled with severe depression left a heartbreaking note before falling to his death from a bridge.
Niall Parakos, 21, didn’t seek help from his family over the three years he struggled with low moods as he ‘didn’t want to burden them’, so had instead sought help from counsellors and his doctor, Chronicle Live reports.
But after feeling they, alongside medication, had been no help he turned to buying drugs online in a desperate bid to feel well enough to complete the final months of his three-year degree at Northumbria University.
An inquest this week into his death heard that he tried out legal highs, as well as ecstasy.
The coroner ruled that it was not appropriate to record a verdict of suicide after he was found to have taken MDMA before falling off Armstrong Bridge in Newcastle, which could have impaired his judgement.
Pathologist Dr Clive Bloxham said he had such a high level of ecstasy in his system that it could have caused death in its own right.
Before his death, Niall left a last poignant Facebook status:
In a note he also wrote before his death, Niall said that he ‘hopes the next person to seek help has better luck’.
The untimely death of Niall has devastated his family, his mother Rosemary said: “I’m not the same and I never will be.”
They now want to see a change in university policy after they failed to inform them that he had gone to the bridge on a previous occasion when feeling suicidal.
Mental health authorities did not consider him an any immediate risk because he denied still feeling suicidal, blaming it on his increased use of legal highs.
After the inquest his flatmates Emily, 22, Sam and Georgie, both 21, said there should have been more active intervention.
Sam said:
We wanted to know how to get help but were always told he needs to ask for help himself – but what if you’re not in a fit state of mind? Where do you draw the line?
R.I.P. Niall.
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