Gathering remembers those lost to suicide

BERNADINE McDonnell “screamed the house down” when gardaí came to her house in Cobh one Saturday morning in 2007 to tell her a body found in a secluded wood was that of her son Mark.

Mark, who she describes as a caring, quiet, hard-working 22 year old, had never shown any real danger signs of being in such distress, even now, more than four years later, she still can’t pinpoint what led him to take his life.

As a teenager, Mark had gone through a bad patch, drinking and getting in trouble with gardaí, but once he turned 18 and took up a position as an apprentice mason he became more serious.