As a mother, there is nothing I dread so much as losing one of my children. From the moment I gave birth to them I have wrestled with a fear that they might one day be taken before I myself pass.
Which is why I have the deepest sympathy for any parent who has survived their child. The pain must run too deep for me to properly comprehend, but I can at least fathom its origins.
What Rosemary Davies experienced, though, I don’t even want to begin to imagine. According to reports, the death of her son, 29-year-old Scott Bellies, hit her hard indeed. She sobbed herself to sleep that night, only to wake up to learn her second son had died as well.
Rosemary, of Wales, was distraught when she lost her son, Scott, to a suspected drug overdose. He was a factory worker who had long been considering checking himself into rehab. Sadly, he never did.
Upon hearing the news, Scott’s elder brother Robert had rushed to Rosemary’s house to console her. The pair stayed up until the early hours of the morning before Rosemary went upstairs, leaving Robert and his girlfriend to sleep in the living room.
“We talked until about 2 a.m., then I went to bed,” Rosemary said. “At 5 a.m. I was crying in my bed, trying not to wake anybody up as Bobby and Fallon were sleeping downstairs on the sofa bed.
“But at 7.55 a.m. I heard Fallon screaming and I came downstairs to find thick blood had come out of Bobby’s mouth, and he was cold to the touch.”
Paramedics, along with Robert’s step-father, battled to save his life, but it was not to be.
“I found myself screaming in the street outside. I couldn’t believe I’d now lost my other boy,” Rosemary continued.
“The night of Scott’s death turned out to be the eve of Robert’s death.”
The fight to move on
Rosemary has three other children, but she says the apron strings were never really cut with regards to Scott and Robert.
“I held their hands to do everything they needed to do, and most of the time they had me wrapped around their little fingers,” she explained.
“”… Even though Bobby was settled with Fallon and was in a good place mentally, he still came round to see me for his Sunday lunch and every Thursday.”
A joint funeral was held for Rosemary’s two boys. “I don’t know how they did it, because after they carried one coffin down they had to go back up the aisle to carry the other one. It was heartbreaking.”
Rosemary also admitted she felt like jumping in the grave with them, but she’s drawing her strength from Scott’s 6-year-old son, Leo.
“My heart is broken but he is going to fill it. I’m his legal guardian, but Scott absolutely adored him, as did his uncle Bobby. Leo has lost both his daddy and a very close uncle. He loved him so much and would always take him to the park for a game of football.”
Such tragic losses are immeasurably difficult to deal with, let alone two in such a short space of time.
Rosemary, my heart goes out to you. I hope you find some small consolation in helping to shape Leo’s life.
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