10 suicide attempts of boy, 10

The Autism News | English

By Lucy Thornton | Mirror UK

An autistic boy’s desperate parents are appealing for urgent help to stop their son killing himself.

Elliott McGahey, 10, has tried to commit suicide 10 times and tells them every day: “I don’t want to live, I just want to die.”

He has leapt out of windows, walked in front of cars and cut himself.

Elliott, who was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome in October, needs round-the-clock care. He has also been taken out of school after being classed a “health and safety” risk.

Mum Kasha Bennett, 28, is searching for a place for him at a specialist school but the nearest available slot is 60 miles from their home in north Hull at a school in Rotherham, South Yorks.

She said: “It’s as if we have just been left.

“Not a day goes by when I don’t cry because it’s heartbreaking. To hear my son say he wants to die rips me apart.”

She said her son hates being hugged or kissed and said: “When we got him diagnosed, we thought things were looking up. But there was support for about two weeks until he got back to school. Now it’s as if we have just been left.”

Kasha plans to lodge a complaint with Humber NHS Foundation Trust over the lack of support for Elliott.

Nigel Richardson, of Hull City Council, said: “Provision in Hull is already on offer and we’ll continue to work with the family to ensure the right package of support is in place.”

Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/06/16/10-suicide-attempts-of-boy-10-115875-22336732

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