When her beloved son Jamal died suddenly in February, Brenda Edwards had to go through the ordeal of sharing the devastating news with the world.
This week, the Loose Women star had to publicly relive the pain all over again when, with the opening of the inquest into his death, she revealed how he died.
I can’t begin to imagine what Brenda is going through.
I can only admire her strength and courage in sharing, in her own words, her shock at discovering that the music entrepreneur died from an irregular heartbeat after taking recreational drugs.
“Since finding out the news, I’ve been in a state of shock and I’m still trying to process it,” Brenda said in a statement.
“But it is important to me that I do address it as no mother or any loved one should have to go through what Jamal’s sister Tanisha and I have been through since he passed away.”
She added: “If I can help save one life, then we will have achieved something.”
Jamal created the hugely successful music platform SBTV, which helped launch the careers of stars including Ed Sheeran, rapper Dave and Jessie J.
He was also an author and Prince’s Trust ambassador who was awarded an MBE. He passed away at his mum’s house aged just 31. He had, as his mother said, the world at his fingertips.
But drugs meant his life was cut tragically short.
Drugs remain a menace and wreck lives. Not just in the case of those who use them.
The whole industry causes untold destruction – especially to young people in inner city areas.
A report by the Children’s Society found that as many as 46,000 children in England – some as young as six years old – were being exploited in county line gangs, preyed on and used to supply drugs right across the country.
In 2020, drug-related deaths reached their highest levels since records began in 1993. Data from the Office for National Statistics found there were 4,561 drug-related deaths in England and Wales, up 3.8% the previous year.
Scotland has the worst drug death rate in Europe.
Like Brenda, I can only hope that her addressing this issue makes people, especially young people, think twice about taking drugs. Her son’s death was an awful reminder of how dangerous and unpredictable they are.
Jamal paid a terrible price.
It’s the wake-up call everyone needs – one bad decision really can lead to devastating consequences.
