Noah Lomax Fund
Noah Lomax was 15 when he sadly died at the beginning of August 2018. Noah was a Sheffield young man, was autistic and had struggled with this and his mental health for many years.
He was a very proud young gay man who fought for LGBTQ+ rights.
Towards the end of 2018, Noah’s family approached SAYiT, and together we set up the SAYiT Noah Lomax Fund to support the mental health of LGBTQ+ young people (who are part of SAYiT) in Sheffield and the surrounding area, providing access to counselling and a hardship fund.
The fund has been up and running since early 2019 and is managed by SAYiT.
Words on the fund by Noah’s wonderful Mum: Claire McGettigan
My son Noah was beautiful, clever, hilarious, quirky, kind and loving.
He was also autistic and this led to many mental health struggles and to sadly losing him to suicide two years ago, aged just 15.
Noah was gay and a proud member of the LGBT+ community. He wanted to be an LGBT+ activist.
We set up Noah’s fund for LGBT+ teen mental health a few weeks after his death and it has turned into a much bigger fund than we could have ever envisaged. It pays for vital counselling and a hardship fund for SAYiT young people.
LGBT+ teens have a higher than average risk of suicide. A study by Stonewall showed damning statistics for suicide, self-harm and depression in this group. There is also a higher level of people with autism in the LGBT+ community and individuals with autism are also in a high risk group for suicide. This makes our LGBT+ teens very vulnerable.
Let’s not forget that not all live in accepting and inclusive households.
Noah’s fund is still there to protect and support LGBT+ young people, giving counselling, internet access and phones to those in need.
Noah would be so proud.
I’ll end with Noah’s favourite quote:
‘The beauty of standing up for your rights is that others see you standing and stand up as well’
Claire McGettigan
Noah's amazing, wonderful mum