The family of a young Welsh woman who took her own life have shared beautiful tributes to her as her uncle prepares to train for a huge fundraising challenge in her memory. Kat Denyer, from Llandovery in Carmarthenshire, was a "wonderful" and creative young woman who loved animals and art and lit up the room whenever she entered, her family have said.
Kat had been battling with her mental health for several years and struggled to access the support she needed from professional services during the Covid lockdowns. She tragically took her own life in November 2021 at the age of just 22.
Desperate to ensure no other young adult faces the same challenges accessing mental health support, Kat's uncle Jon Denyer is preparing to canoe 120km down one of Wales' longest rivers, the Towy, next summer and has set himself a target to raise at least £10,000 for youth mental health charity YoungMinds in Kat's memory. "She was sunshine, she radiated the room," said Kat's mum Mags Denyer. "If Jon's fundraiser can help another person not go through what our child went through then that's something we can hold onto."
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Kat's dad, Marcus Denyer, added: "Kat was was very creative – she always had a drawing pad on her and loved painting. And she absolutely loved animals, she was insanely crazy about them – she had a dog, cat, lizards, scorpions, spiders. She absolutely loved them. We look after her dog now."
He said Kat struggled to access help she needed during the pandemic. "She was a very bubbly, bouncy child, a very sociable child, but as she got older she struggled with her mental health – her diagnosis was borderline personality disorder," he added. "She did try and get help but struggled to get the help she needed during the lockdowns because of the restrictions and she lived alone which made her situation worse. She'd had some support when she was a child through CAMHS [Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services] but it was difficult to get the support as an adult. It was almost non-existent."
His brother Jon, Kat's uncle, said: "If maybe Kat had had the help she needed, and more help when she was younger, maybe she'd still be here. YoungMinds is the UK's number one mental health charity for young people. If Kat was still here she'd be really proud that I'm doing my challenge for this charity. She was a lovely, wonderful person."
Sharing a tribute to his niece Jon continued: "We were really close. She told me she struggled with anxiety and depression but it wasn't through lack of trying – she tried to get help and she was denied it. She was in an online CBT group but didn't feel comfortable having her camera on so they refused to let her take part and said she was refusing treatment."
He also recalled the devastating moment of learning his niece had died. "I knew she was struggling but didn't know she was struggling that much," said Jon. "On the Monday she was meant to be meeting my new partner and on the Saturday she called me and told me she loved me and then on the Sunday my brother rang to tell me she'd passed away."
While the family can't bring Kat back and will never forget about her they're looking ahead to Jon's fundraising challenge and hope the money he raises will help YoungMinds provide support for young people struggling with their mental health and ensure no family has to go through the pain and heartbreak they did. "When I was first thinking what charity I'd like to support in Kat's memory I was looking at mental health charities and came across YoungMinds which is the UK's main charity for young people's mental health. Its main colour is yellow which was Kat's favourite colour so it just felt like the right one to support," Jon said.
"My challenge is canoeing along the River Towy – it's 120km – completely by myself. I'll be in a 16ft Canadian Canoe and I'll canoe down from where the River Towy starts at Strata Florida, across Llyn Brianne reservoir, then down through Rhandirmywyn and Cilicwm, down through Llandovery, where Kat was from, down to Llangadog and to Llandeilo, where Kat lived before she died, and then on to Carmarthen and Llansteffan.
"It's going to take me four or five days and there will be parts where I'll have to portage (walk and carry the canoe through shallow, muddy waters) and I'll probably have to camp in my canoe each night. I'm into bushcraft and I've been a bit of a survival enthusiast all my life but this will be a massive challenge. Kat and her brother Dylan used to love hearing my stories about my 'adventures' so I thought this would be a good adventure to do for Kat."
Ahead of the challenge next summer, Jon has already set up an online fundraising page for YoungMinds. if you'd like to donate to Kat's Canoe Challenge you can do so online here. You can also follow fundraising and training updates on the Kat's Canoe Challenge page on Facebook here.
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