Brianna Ghey’s mum has said she felt like she might die too after learning that her 16-year-old daughter had been killed. (Supplied)
Brianna Ghey’s mum Esther has shared that she “felt like [she] was going to die” too, after the murder of her 16-year-old trans daughter.
Esther and her family’s lives changed forever on 11 February when Brianna was found dead in Culcheth Linear Park in Culcheth, Warrington with multiple stab wounds.
Four days after Brianna’s death, two 16-year-olds – a boy and a girl who cannot be named for legal reasons – were charged with the trans teen’s murder, and are due to stand trial later this month.
Speaking to The Independent, Esther said of her daughter’s murder: “It’s the news that you would never, ever want to hear – it was completely shocking. It was so tragic that I felt like I was going to die myself.”
For a while, Brianna Ghey’s mum says she wanted to avoid any and all media attention as she dealt with the grief of losing her daughter, but the overwhelming support she and her family were met with from the trans community and the general public ended up “being a comfort.”
“I’m quite an introvert,” she told the publication. “But I’m trying to push myself to make a change, to be a bit more like Brianna because she was confident and happy being who she was and putting herself out there.”
Ghey has used her new platform to raise money for the Mindfulness in Schools Project (MiSP), a charity that provides mindfulness training to schools and aims to make a positive difference to the mental health and well-being of pupils.
Whether it was asking funeral attendees for donations to MiSP, or taking on the Great North Swim with her partner Wes Powell, Esther has done everything in her power to draw attention to the worthy cause.
Esther remembers her daughter as “very, very outgoing”, and a “very high energy, funny, quick-witted child.”
The student had dreams of becoming TikTok famous, having racked up an impressive 31,000 followers on the social media platform with her videos.
But, “like many other young people”, she says, Brianna “did also suffer with really poor mental health – she had anxiety.”
Nine months on from Brianna’s tragic murder, Esther says that she’s trying her best to “stay focused and positive” as she prepares for the upcoming murder trial, which is due to start on 27 November in Manchester Crown Court.
“If it was straight away, it would’ve probably been too overbearing to deal with,” says Brianna’s mum.
“Having these months to heal has probably benefited our family – we’ve had a chance to heal and prepare.”
Earlier this month, Esther helped Brianna’s classmates mark what would have been her 17th birthday, by organising an event that saw everyone in her school wear pink, Brianna’s favourite colour, in her memory, while also raising money for MiSP.
She has also set up her own campaign called the Peace in Mind campaign, which also aims to raise money for MiSP.
Esther had previously told PinkNews of her campaign: “In schools, there’s such a focus on academia and no focus on how people are actually doing.
“There’s no point in having straight A’s and having crippling anxiety and not being able to actually contribute to society at the end of that.”