A DEVOTED mum who is preparing for Christmas without her son for the second year is determined to help the charity which supported their family through his battle with motor neurone disease.

Susie Murrell’s son Jamie Havern was just 17 when he was diagnosed with the incurable neurological condition and died just 13 months later.

The Lymm teenager lost his ability to walk, talk and swallow as a result of the disease, which affects the signals between the brain and the muscles, causing the muscles to waste away.

Throughout their ordeal the family – which includes Jamie’s brothers Corey, 18, and Kai, 14, as well as sister Ebony, 12 – received support from the Cheshire branch of the MND Association.

The local arm of the national charity provided financial grants to allow the family a precious holiday together in Wales, and also helped with the cost of Christmas presents the year before Jamie died.

Since Jamie died in September 2016 Susie and her family and friends have raised £2,250 for the Cheshire branch in his memory.

Susie, from Lymm, said: “It’s just our way of giving something back for all the help they gave us at that time, and also helps raise awareness of this awful disease.

“Before Jamie was diagnosed, the only thing I knew about MND was it was the thing that Stephen Hawking has.

“We had no idea what was in store for us or how quickly Jamie was going to deteriorate.

“Having Joel from the Cheshire branch to talk to, who had been through it with his mum, was really helpful – he knew the challenges we were facing.”

The first indicator that something was wrong with Jamie was when he began losing weight, lost his appetite and his voice began to change.

Susie waited an excruciating six months for an official diagnosis which finally came after an eight-week stay in Salford Royal Hospital where he had been admitted after being hit with pneumonia and septicaemia.

Susie said: “He went downhill very quickly. It was just heartbreaking to see.

“It felt like as soon as we’d got used to one thing, then something else happened – we were up against it from all directions.

“As a family we used to eat standing up in the kitchen – we didn’t want Jamie to see us, we all felt guilty. It was just awful.”

Susie admits Christmas will be very low key in their house again this year.

“It’s not the same without Jamie,” she said. “We as a family are not the same. A ‘normal’ Christmas would just feel too much and then we have his birthday in January too – it’s a tough time for us.

“I will always miss him and my life will never be the same again. But I have to keep going for the sake of Corey, Kai and Ebony.”