How a Huddersfield couple dealt with tragedy

Jan 1 2009 by Sam Casey, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

After their young son died Neil and Rachael Salmon set up a charity in his honour. A year after The Joseph Salmon Trust was founded SAM CASEY spoke to them to find out how they were doing.

IT IS a sad truism that no parent should have to bury their child.

But for Neil and Rachael Salmon, as for so many other parents, that was the reality they faced when they lost their three-year-old son Joseph in 2005.

The toddler died suddenly from streptococcal pneumonia, an infection and inflammation of the lungs, on April 1.

The Marsh couple, confronted not only with the emotional torment of losing their son but with the financial pressure of paying for his funeral, turned to their families for help.

As a result they were able to give Joseph an appropriate burial and pay for the headstone they wanted.

Neil’s employers also paid for them to take a holiday shortly after Joseph’s death to allow them a break from the stress the tragedy had brought.

In one way the Salmons came to see themselves as lucky to have been surrounded by such a supportive network of friends and family.

But they realised that many bereaved parents were not so fortunate.

And so the idea for The Joseph Salmon Trust was born.

Neil, 33, a technical support manager for ITV, said: “Not long after Joseph died we came up with the idea to help financially with the costs associated with a child’s death.

“You are incredibly angry when you lose a child and having financial burdens on top of that only makes things worse.”

Rachael, 32, a training and events co-ordinator for the Church of England’s Wakefield Diocese, said: “I wouldn’t have come up with this idea myself. But when Neil suggested it I thought ‘that’s perfect’. ”

The couple were determined that their efforts were not driven by emotion, so they waited until last year before they started to think seriously about the idea.

Between June – the date they say the charity started – and December they took steps to raise the £5,000 necessary to register the charity.

The paperwork needed to achieve charity status was completed by March of this year, when The Joseph Salmon Trust was registered with the Charity Commission.