The Ryan Smith - Rising Sun Trust

Ryan, born in April 1980, was a normal sort of a kid, and as he grew up, showed particular talent for acting, performing and art. The picture of the rising sun at the top of these web pages, was painted by Ryan for me, just before his death.

When Ryan was around 13 years old we discovered he had a dependence on glue. This was not an immediate realisation, the fact that he was coming in from school, getting washed, changed and covering himself in deodorant and aftershave, made us think he had discovered girls. His attitude change eventually gave it away. He began to be argumentative, have mood swings, and then things went missing from the house, money and the like.

This, on hindsight, was the beginning of the end.

Ryan progressed through the different stages of the drugs regime, we were unable to find any satisfactory help available, although we now realised that they were out there but we could not seem to locate them.

By the time he was taking oral Amphetamine he had left home because of the rows and arguments that had taken place. This was our middle son of four children, one who although 'going through hell' still took the time to tell us he loved us and wished he could do something about it. I felt totally helpless.

One Sunday evening in March 1998, Ryan came home and told us he was frightened, he really wanted help this time, he was mainlining Heroin and sharing needles. 

MY WORLD STOPPED.

It took us five weeks to get Ryan an appointment with a counsellor, and only because of someone who knew someone else we actually got Ryan into the system. Previous to that we were continually told, sorry but we cannot help until he is 18. This is not good enough.

Ryan was away for seven months on rehabilitation and he came back 'clean'.

When he came back the whole process of help and support was not there. He could not get anywhere to live at a reasonable cost and he would not live at home because of previous problems. Within four weeks he was back on the same slippery slope.

On 4th February 1999 a police officer arrived at our house to tell us that Ryan had been found dead in a 'Bail Hostel' one mile from Toxteth in Liverpool. He had been found in his room and had choked on his vomit.

Imagine how that made me feel.

(Ryan's father)