Mum-of-three Deborah Byrne was relaxing at home in Northhampton, England, doing what most of us do when we have a moment or two to spare: catching up on what she’d missed on Facebook.
But on this particular day, as reported by The Sun and News.com.au, Ms Byrne noticed something horribly off about what she was seeing in her newsfeed.
More and more posts were mourning the death of her 21-year-old daughter Brogan – something that, understandably, shocked and irrevocably horrified her mother.
The further, and faster, she scrolled, the more memorial posts paying tribute to her daughter, with one friend even writing “Gone too soon”.
For Ms Byrne, panic ensued; she feared the worst had happened to her “glitter girl”.
It was then that another friend sent Ms Byrne a private message, omitting the worst.
“A friend of Brogan’s wrote to me ‘I’m so sorry’ in a private message, so I asked what the hell she was talking about,” she remembers.
“She said there had been a horrific crash the night before… and she would be there for me. That’s when I started screaming. The penny had dropped – Brogan was dead.”
“At that moment my heart shattered. I couldn’t believe I’d found out about my daughter’s death on Facebook.”
Sadly, Brogan had been travelling home from a vegan festival with three of her friends the night before when she was involved in a head-on car accident.
The accident tragically took all four lives.
“At 8pm on the Sunday night (the night of the crash) Brogan texted me and said they’d be driving back soon,” Ms Byrne says. “So, with Tianna [her five-year-old daughter] staying with my sister, I took advantage and had an early night.”
“When I heard no more from Brogan, I wasn’t worried. I assumed her phone battery had died and she’d stopped off at someone’s house.”
According to police and the local coroner, speed and alcohol aren’t believed to be involved in the collision. Rather, tiredness or a distraction are expected to have caused the crash.
Our thoughts go out to Ms Byrne and her family, and all those who loved and knew young Brogan.
If you need to talk to someone about something you’re going through, reach out to beyond blue via their website or call them on 1300 224 636.
