In the last few months there seems to have been one tragedy after another with permanent and heart breaking results. The latest and perhaps saddest was Jono, a 34 year old free spirit with the gentlest, kindest nature you could ever know.
He was sick for a long time. They thought he had Crohn's disease but then changed their minds and thought it was something else. The truth of the matter is that they didn't know. He was as unique in his sickness as he was in every other way. About 6 months ago he came very close to death and ended up with a permanent Ostomy bag bi-passing his digestive system which was refusing to work. Somehow this young man didn't skip a beat, having been thrown into a situation some would be broken by, he refused to give up and refused to be negative. When he went in for his final operation, he knew that he was going all in, there was a possibility it could work once and for all but there was also a possibility his body wouldn't handle the stress. A few hours after the operation he had a heart attack and couldn't come back. Sadly his incredible positivity meant that most people were not aware of quite how high the risks were, so it came as an awful shock.
At his funeral every person who spoke, spoke of his insatiable appetite for life and his wildly boundless spirit that was so connected to the earth and all her many beauties.
His love for music, both playing and listening, was the glue in the proceedings throughout the service and at the wake, long into the night. Patrick played a hauntingly brave and beautiful tribute to his oldest and best fan, whose natural musicality and long late night jam sessions had inspired many of Paddy's songs over the years. He sang of his gratitude to a brother who would live in his heart forever and we all cried with him. The church was packed, people standing in a group outside in the wind and rain just to share their grief and make their love known, together, one last time. Jono was a free spirit and with that came breaks in his connections with people and there was a mixture of regret and sadness in the air as many people wished they had seen more of him towards the end. We celebrated him long into the night, bound by the heaviness in our chests, remembering and honouring someone who had so much more to teach us than we had a chance to learn.
All day and night we spoke of the importance of living life as Jono did. With love, kindness, nature and music as your guiding lights. To give your heart fully and without reservation in the pursuit of goodness and connection and to refuse to conform to any preconceived ideas of how life should be.
Live wild, life free, live with love. That was Jono's way.
Love,
Daisy xx
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