For the mum of Paul Lebihan this Christmas has been an emotional time.
This is Deb Lebihan's first Christmas without her son, after he tragically passed away in Spain after saving the life of his dog. Deb has spoken about how she feels as she goes into her first festive season without her beloved son.
She said: "I've been dreading Christmas without Paul. He was such a happy person who would do anything to help others, and he loved Christmas. It's going to be difficult to spend the first Christmas without him.
"My husband has been so supportive as have the rest of the family, and I think I'll be ok, it's just always going to be hard for us. Even after several Christmases we will still miss him so much."
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Deb said she will always be grateful for how the local community reacted to help the family after Paul's tragic death. As Paul died in Spain, getting him back to the UK and organising a funeral proved both difficult and expensive for Deb and her family.
"It was a lot of money to travel to and from Spain and also it was very time consuming", she said. "It can be difficult to organise things like this as well due to the language barrier but luckily for us Paul's fiancé is fluent in Spanish so she was really helpful with that.
"He was only 25 so he wasn't insured or anything like that. You don't realise quite how expensive these things are until you are having to sort everything out when it is still so raw and emotional."
But, support came for Deb from people back in the UK, and more specifically her home town of Gateshead. Leam Lane Amateur Boxing Club raised £4,000 in just 2 weeks and overall £21,065 was raised from all over the country. Deb says she has been overwhelmed by the support the family received after keen boxer Paul died.
"When I saw that the Go Fund Me had been set up I was so thankful and the help was massively appreciated. It was clear to see by the support we got that Paul was so loved by people in the community.
"Boxing was really helpful to him, it taught him discipline and moulded him into an amazing young man so I would like to especially thank Leam Lane Boxing Club for everything they've done for him."
Connor Peebles, a coach at the club and close friend of Paul's also has a personal message for him.
"I personally would just like to say that Paul is and always will be one of Leam Lane’s finest. Thank you for all you have done for the boxing club and for the sport. We all love and miss you very much."
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