Josh Hewitt remembers brother Jake as a "very funny, kind young bloke", whose death left his family forever wondering what could have been. Login or signup to continue reading Jake Hewitt took his life at age 24 in Singleton, where he lived. Josh, of Cooks Hill, will honour Jake's memory by walking in Lifeline Hunter 's Out of the Shadows Walk in Newcastle on Tuesday.
"There were definitely signs he was in trouble . He was experiencing difficulties in life that really stacked up," Josh said. "In the end, we never really thought it was quite so unbearable for him.
" He said life "started to fall apart for him a little bit". "It wasn't necessarily out of the blue. He lost his job, got into a bit of drug use - synthetic marijuana," he said.
"That coupled with grog and antidepressants left him in a bad place." The walk marks World Suicide Prevention Day, which aims to raise awareness and funds for the cause. Health data shows 1552 people took their lives in Hunter New England from 2011 to 2022.
Josh will walk 11 kilometres in Tuesday's event "because it's been 11 years" since Jake died. "The goal was to raise $1100, which I've flown past." He said the walk was also about "participating in something with other people in our family's position".
"There will be a lot of people with their own goals and personal reasons for taking part in the walk," he said. "Everybody's circumstances are unique, but the one thing that sadly we have in common is that we have lost someone to suicide and .