I was getting ready for my sister’s wedding when a phone call destroyed my whole world
A WOMAN has revealed how she was getting ready for her sister’s wedding when a phone call destroyed her whole world.
Kaitlyn Booth, 22, from Burnley in Lancashire, was told over the phone that her boyfriend Jack Jermy-Doyle was on a ventilator in hospital after being punched on a night out.
Jack died two days after the attack in Preston on August 12 last year.
Dental nurse Kaitlyn told the Mirror: “I woke up at about 5:30am on August 12th to start getting ready for my sister’s big day and I had lots of notifications saying something had happened to Jack.
“The signal was terrible but I finally managed to get a hold of his sister, Leanne, who told me that doctors were saying Jack had irreversible brain damage.
“My dad drove me over to Preston hospital and when we arrived, we had to sit in A&E and wait for a nurse to come and take me down.
She added: “The nurse came over and explained the extent of the damage and told us that there was absolutely no way Jack would survive this and it would only be a matter of time before his heart stopped beating.
“After visiting Jack, me and dad made our way back to the rest of the family to support my sister at her wedding.
“It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do, trying to smile through such horrific pain.”
Jack left Kaitlyn a voicemail before the assault telling her how much he loved her.
His mum Sue has now lost both of her sons, after Jack’s brother Harry killed himself in 2019.
Lancashire Police said: “Two men – aged 21 and 28 from Preston – previously arrested on suspicion of Section 18 wounding were re-arrested on August 24 on suspicion of murder, assault and Public Order Act offences.
“They have since been released on bail pending further enquiries.”
Jack was officially pronounced dead on August 14 2022 and donated his organs – saving four lives.
Kaitlyn said: “My dad likes to remind me that Jack’s heart still beats for me, which is bittersweet.”
She chose to play Lewis Capaldi’s song Before You Go at Jack’s funeral – after the singer closed with it at a concert the couple went to months before Jack’s death.
Kaitlyn said: “It really started to sink in at Jack’s funeral that he was gone but I don’t really think I’ve managed my grief at all.
“I still sleepover at Jack’s mum’s house every week on a Thursday and I wear his clothes to bed.
“We were supposed to get married and have children and live a long and happy life together growing old with each other.”
Posting on a GoFundMe page in Jack’s memory, she wrote: “My beautiful Jack was punched and his whole life was taken from him.
“All it took was one punch. Jack had so much more to offer this world, but everything was cruelly taken away from him.
“The love of my life was gone in the blink of an eye.”