Jake
Pen picture of Jake written by his friend Laurie.
Jake was my best mate, more than that really, he was family. I’d known him for years and I want people to understand who he was, not just what happened to him at the end. He had been through a hell of a lot in his life. He had no real stability, no proper home, and so much had been taken from him from an early age. Even with all of that, he was one of the kindest people I knew. He had fuck all, but if he liked you, he would have given it all to you. That was just Jake. He was generous, loyal and caring in a way that stuck with people. He wasn’t thick, not at all. He couldn’t read and write properly, but he was good with numbers, good with his hands, and he could build things. He set up his own handyman business, and he was doing well with it. He made things like bird boxes and flower planters, and he took pride in that.
In the last part of his life, I saw a real change in Jake. His ketamine use got worse, his pain got worse, and his mental health seemed to go downhill too. He was in loads of pain with his bladder, and by the end he had just given up. We tried to help him, and other people tried as well, but Jake often didn’t want to engage with services or make changes. Still, relationships mattered with him, and when people managed to build trust, that made a difference. What I want people to remember is that Jake was more than a homeless man, more than drug use, and more than the state he was found in at the end. He was a person who had already had so much taken away from him, and that matters. He was my family. That is why I think this report should be in Jake’s name, because it doesn’t feel right for his name to be taken away as well. I want him to be seen properly, as a whole person, with dignity, and not be reduced to the worst parts of what happened to him.