It's an illness no new mother should gave to go through. And sadly it proved too much for Saffie Johnson who got married at 17 and had a child aged 18.
At the age of just 19, the teenager hanged herself after she was overcome by a severe bout of post natal depression.
Saffie had been determined to be a wife and mother despite her young age but found herself struggling to cope with parenthood and she split up with her husband Daniel. After moving back in with her mother, step father and brother, Saffie left a note in her pink diary reading ‘today I will die’ before taking her own life at home after her relatives had gone out for the day. She was found dead that evening by her younger brother as he arrived home from college.
Police examined Saffie's diary following the tragedy in October last year to find notes to loved ones and she had also penned a letter to be given to her one year old son on his 18th birthday. At a Manchester inquest Saffie's estranged husband Daniel Johnson, a company driver, 22, broke down in tears as he said: ''I tried as best I could to help her to overcome her depression but the pressure of having a baby was too much for her. ''Saffie never told anybody how she was really feeling, she told them what she thought they wanted to hear. 'She never told her parents because she did not want to burden them and she wanted to overcome her problem alone. ''She loved the baby but it was too much for her and found it very difficult to cope.''
Cavendish Press' coverage of Saffie's harowing inquest which highlighted the issues of post natal depression was featured on various newspaper websites. If you have a story please contact us on 0161 237 1066 or email [email protected].