WARNING: This story contains details which may cause distress.
Meron Savage told 9News she will tonight make the heart-wrenching decision to turn off the life support of her 13-year-old daughter Kate after she was yesterday hospitalised.
“She stopped at the curb and turned around to look at us, smiled … and she hasn’t woken up since,” Ms Savage said.
Ms Savage made the brave decision to speak out against what she says is a gaping hole in the state’s mental health system.
“There was nowhere – there is nowhere – for suicidal teens,” she said.
Ms Savage had just left an appointment with Kate at the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) yesterday when her daughter was hit by a car on Albany Highway.
“On the way home she wanted to visit the pet shop, which was her reward for going to CAHMS,” Ms Savage said.
“She was really happy while she was in there, she was talking about the different animals that she loved, but the thoughts were still there – it’s a mental illness.”
Kate had been hospitalised for trying to take her own life at least 10 times in two months. Each time, Ms Savage said she was admitted for several days before the crisis was deemed over and she was released.
Ms Savage says she’ll now never know what her daughter’s life could have become because there is no mental health inpatient treatment facility for children under the age of 16.
“It took several attempts before CAHMS finally took her on as a patient,” she said.
“She was so severely suicidal by then that she was trying to take her life all the time – anything, everything, constantly.
“The crisis was never over. She would come home and she’d have another attempt.”
The WA Child and Adolescent Health Service said it could not comment on individual cases due to confidentiality concerns.
“Our thoughts are with the family during this very difficult time,” chief executive Dr Aresh Anwar said in a statement to 9News.
“Providing high levels of quality care and patient safety remains our absolute highest priority across all of the services provided by the Child and Adolescent Health Service.”
Tonight, Ms Savage’s family is enduring the unbearable pain of having to say goodbye, but also vowing to fight for change in Kate’s name.
