A grieving mother has told how her 'amazing' teenage son who died tragically last month was her first true love.

Anne Marshall, 36, whose son Jamie died on Monday, September 23, says it has been impossible to find the words to describe the pain of his loss since his body was found in a field next to Balmoral Avenue in Crosland Moor.

And she said she had been overwhelmed by the kindness of people wanting to help, from reaching out to her on social media, strangers who attended Jamie's funeral, and charities and organisations that have offered practical support.

She said: "It feels like the police were knocking on my door only days ago yet it seems like forever since I saw Jamie's face, since I heard his voice, held him, it feels like so long ago and every day it only gets further away.

"Time isn’t helping, it's making it worse. I wanted the world to stop turning, to turn back, but I don’t get that option and it breaks my heart.

"Me and Jamie have been on our own since he was born. William joined us seven years in and then it's just been us three.

"I have Crohns, Lupus, arthritis and other issues associated with the diseases and Jamie helped me so much. He cooked and cleaned, did the dishes, cut the grass, he was so grown up, so amazing. 

"I was so proud of him, beyond proud. These words just aren’t enough - they just don’t cover what he was, what he meant, what I’ve lost.

"I feel like every day gets worse. The darkness gets darker, I miss him so much, he was my first true love.  I’m utterly lost without him. 

"He could make me laugh when I was in hospital - he would message me all day, he would look after me when I came home, making me cups of tea, but he would always say never shout as it would hurt my stomach, just text when you want anything and he would come through, nothing was too much.

"He was amazing, and he knew I thought so too."

Jamie Marshall
Jamie Marshall

Anne said her younger son, William, had lost his 'best friend'. She said childhood bereavement charity Winston's Wish was helping her to support him.

She said: "William has only just recently been able to return home. Not having his brother to play fight with in the living room and laugh and joke with has made home a very quiet place for him.

"We have the full support of the lovely staff at Oak Primary, they have been wonderful with him. William loves school and that’s where his life hasn’t changed, he loves it. 

"Jamie has been his best friend, support and protector his whole life and now he's gone with no warning. William went to school on Monday morning and his life changed forever. It's not fair.

"His Nanny and Granddad are rocks in his life and have helped us both immensely."

Before Jamie's funeral service two weeks ago, bikers gathered outside Anne's Crosland Moor home to lead the cortege to the crematorium. Anne said: "They held traffic as we went. We are road racing fans so Jamie would have loved to see that."

Anne thanked the many people who had supported her, including including Helen and Tony Dalton and the staff at the Taylor Funeral Service; Huddersfield Crematorium, celebrant Lynne Green at Creating Memories, and the Flower Girls florists in Holmfirth, who all gave their services for free.

She said: "I asked for a specific look to the flowers and they created the floral tributes of JAMIE and YEY YEY. William couldn’t say hard J when he was little and that is what he called him and it stuck within the family.

A letter from Newsome High School informing parents about the sudden death of Jamie Marshall

"Nawaab's Restaurant created a buffet of Jamie's favourites, and the coffin was made by the amazing people at Colourful Coffins who surrounded Jamie in hundreds of pictures of our smiles. It was incredible."

"I would like to thank the Joseph Salmon Trust for their offer of financial help towards funeral costs and emotional support moving forward.  A massive thank you to Ali at Ruddi's Retreat for gifting myself and William a week's holiday in Filey next week - the thought of a quiet home during the school holidays was breaking my heart, so that means more than they will know.

"These charities are funded by us and I know I will be doing whatever I can in the future to raise some money in some hopes of paying it forward."

Anne thanked the emergency services who did everything they could to save Jamie, adding money donated at the funeral would fund support for workers struggling after attending difficult call-outs.

She added "I would like to say a massive thank you for the personal support family, friends, teaching staff, have given me.  People reaching out on my Instagram with offers of help and support moving forward. After seeing the worst of some people the kindness of the many has been overwhelming, to know so many people are there to help pick me up when I fall means so much. 

"I can't thank you all enough, anyone that has given to the JustGiving page, people that have sent cards, strangers that came to the funeral, messages of support online, it means so much when my world right now is the darkest it has ever been.

"Thank you all."