The trauma Shaun Sidney and his family have been through in the four years since daughter Kayleigh needed a life-saving heart transplant has inspired the County Durham dad to speak out about male mental health.
Kayleigh Llewellyn was just 12 when she collapsed while playing football in 2019. She had cardiomyopathy, and needed a heart transplant.
However, that was successfully completed and she's gone on to complete her GCSEs, attend her school prom in a Mustang, and even win gold at the World Transplant Games.. She continues to pursue her dream of becoming a paramedic.
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For dad Shaun, 54, the "terrible experience" of fearing for Kayleigh's life had a real impact on the whole family. He said he had thought deeply about the strain and stress the family had been through - and said that he had been incredibly well-supported by friends, family and his employer - Taylormade Timber Products where he is a forklift truck trainer.
Now, in hope of being able to "give back" and support those who are struggling, Shaun has taken on a "ManBassador" men's mental health role and is helping to support those among the other 157 employees at his Durham workplace as a peer supporter. Shaun said it was a help support others with the strains that could make it difficult to cope
He said: "My family and I went through a terrible experience in 2019 when my daughter Kayleigh collapsed playing football when she was only 12. What ensued was two years of hell as doctors discovered she suffered cardiomyopathy and she needed a heart transplant thankfully successfully undertaken at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.”
"We went from day to day with an ever changing picture. In the end Kayleigh came through it and competed in this year’s British Transplant Games in Coventry which was amazing as it brought us together with her donors family, an incredibly moving experience for all of us.
“But it also got me thinking about the amount of strain the family and I had been under? I now have first hand experience of dealing with trauma and how this impacts every part of your life including work. Fortunately for me my employer was incredibly supportive at what was for everyone in our family the worst time in our lives,
"I also had the support of friends and wider family members. It got me thinking what if I didn’t have that kind of support? And also, that you never know the stresses and strains people you work with can be faced with."
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He has taken part in the ManBassador programme - run by Emily Pearson - and is now working to help tackle issues leading to depression and even suicide by providing peer support. He said: "The ManBassador programme has been a fabulous way for me to give back and help other men dealing with their issues whether they are financial, psychological, home or work based - making it difficult to cope.”
"Since launching the programme in the summer this year my colleague and I have had more than 10 people reach out and we’ve been able to sign post and ensure issues are being properly listened too and flagged. I’m now taking an additional course in self harm and suicide prevention."
The ManBassador programme was launched last year. Emily - who is from County Durham and has more than a quarter-century of experience working in mental health - said: "We must stop blaming men for not talking about their problems due to deficits in their masculinity, rather than blaming the deficits in services and interventions that often fail many men at the time when they need support most.
"Our ManBassador Programme is a gender specific, peer to peer intervention for workplaces that engage male workers through male friendly activities run by positive male role models like Shaun. The ManBassadors and the activities aim to build camaraderie, trust and promote natural conversations about improving health and wellbeing."
For more information about Emily's organisation Our Mind’s Work visit: here, and to find out more about the ManBassador programme click here.
