Kaiyah Kennedy: Family of Gold Coast 12yo open up on loss of ‘beautiful boy’ with ADHD, mental health message
Kaiyah Kennedy’s family have broken their silence on their footy-loving son’s death in hopes their message will help children and families struggling with ADHD and mental health.
The family of Kaiyah Kennedy has revealed their devastation just days after the death of the footy-loving Gold Coast 12-year-old in hopes their words will help other children and families struggling with ADHD and mental health issues.
Kaiyah died by suicide on October 2, less than a week after the death of fellow Coomera Cutters Rugby League Club player Treyvon Te Tahi Bradshaw in similar circumstances.
His family broke their silence in a statement to the Daily Mail, revealing that “their world has been shattered” while maintaining that they wanted people’s positive memories of Kaiyah’s life to outshine the circumstances of his death.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“We want people to know how he lived,” the statement said.
“Kaiyah was wild and free. He was mischievous, hilarious, charism satic and completely unforgettable.”
However, they emphasised that even behind such confident exteriors, children like Kaiyah often were up against hidden hardships that could become “completely overwhelming.”
“Behind that beautiful, funny and outgoing boy, though, was a child whose mind could make life incredibly difficult for him,” the statement read.
“ADHD is so much more complex than the stereotype of a hyperactive little boy who cannot sit still.
“For some children, it can mean enormous emotions that they don’t yet have the ability to regulate. It can mean the highest highs and the lowest lows.
“It can mean acting before their brain has had the chance to process the consequences, struggling with impulse control, and experiencing feelings so intensely that they can become completely overwhelming.”
Kaiyah’s struggle highlighted how important it was to generate a more comprehensive view of ADHD and mental health in children, and young boys in particular, his family added.
“A child struggling with their mental health does not automatically come from a broken home, bad parents or a troubled upbringing,” the statement said.
‘Sometimes a child can be surrounded by love, have parents fighting ferociously for them and still be fighting a battle inside their own mind that other people cannot see.
“We fought for Kaiyah. We advocated for him, we sought help for him and we tried with everything we had to understand what he needed and keep our beautiful boy safe.
‘”I would have done absolutely anything to save my son.”
Kaiyah’s family said his agonising loss would be something they would have to carry, but they still refused to let his “life be reduced to his final moments”.
“If sharing his story makes another parent recognise that their child needs help, makes another person take ADHD and children’s mental health more seriously, or ultimately helps save another young person’s life, then I will continue speaking his name and telling his story,” their statement read.
“Kaiyah was here. Kaiyah mattered. Kaiyah was loved beyond words.”
A GoFundMe has been set up to help Kaiyah’s family in the wake of their loss.
Teen mental health site Young Minds defines Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder not as a mental illness or a lack of intelligence but a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that affects in how the brain manages executive functions. In teens and young children that can affects focus, impulse control, and energy regulation.
ADHD affects up to 298,000 children and adolescents in Australia - that means roughly up to 10 per cent of all people aged under 18 in the country.
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