Dan Stirling: a life reMEmbered …

Dan Stirling (xx.xx.1997~26.04.2020)
Tributes have been paid to a ‘heroic’ 23-year-old ME sufferer who took his own life after no longer being able to battle the ‘dark illness’.
Dan Sterling was tragically found passed away in a copse near his home in Ashburton on April 26, 2020, heard an inquest held in Plymouth yesterday.
His family said in his final days he was ‘utterly exhausted mentally, physically and spiritually, but kept enough strength to carry him through to the end’. Dan’s parents Stephen and Deborah Sterling said his death ‘put an end to his long endured and immense suffering over some seven years’. They said he was ‘a very a special young man, intelligent, perceptive, very creative, very warm, witty and funny, with a deep love of life, of people and nature’. In a statement, they said: “He deserved none of the pain that he suffered for so long and transcended it to make an extraordinary life that touched so many people. While his life was tragically short, it was not tragic – rather, heroic. He left the world a better place for his earthly existence over 23 years.” They said he was like an ‘old soul’ and ‘displayed endless compassion’ especially for the less fortunate. Mrs and Mrs Sterling added: “Every parent will say their son is special, but we do think he was very unusual, a rare ‘being of light’ whose spirit was able to shine almost to the very end, despite fighting against a dark illness that tried to keep him down for years. We and his sister Ellie are so very proud of this exceptional young man, our beautiful boy,who graced our lives with deep love and humour throughout his life, and will always continue to do so. He is now at peace, leaving his legacy of love to inspire all those whose lives he not only touched but changed”.
In the letter he left for all his friends, he finished with the following quote. We cannot trace it, and think they are his own words:
Time flies, and it never delays, so find brightness in every day. Climb high to define life’s lessons, all nestled with fate, find time for the memories made.