Jaxson Bradey's mum mourns loss

“HE gave me a kiss on the forehead and said 'I love you'.” Those were the last words grieving mother Tammy Bradey heard her 15-year-old son Jaxson say.

“HE gave me a kiss on the forehead and said ‘I love you’.” Those were the last words grieving mother Tammy Bradey heard her ‘beautiful’ 15-year-old son Jaxson say.

Just three hours later, she watched on in disbelief as a team of doctors at Gympie Hospital tried desperately to save her son after he was stabbed in an unprovoked attack at Goldfields Plaza car park on Friday morning.

Mrs Bradey said the doctors had turned the Gympie Emergency room into an operating theatre to try and save her precious boy.

“They had surgeons from Nambour escorted to Gympie by police and a chopper on stand by to fly him to Brisbane.

“The head doctor kept coming out and updating us.

“He said Jaxson was a fighter, but he had lost a lot of blood.

It wasn’t until Mrs Bradey went in to see her son that she realised he might not pull through.

“It was a nightmare, there was so much blood.

“I knew in my heart then he wasn’t going to make it.”

After three-and-a-half hours, Jaxson lost his fight for life.

“The staff at the hospital couldn’t do any more; they did everything to try and save him,” Mrs Bradey said.

“They pulled out all stops.”

Yesterday, Mrs Bradey and her close-knit family were going about the job of trying to pick up the pieces of their lives for the second time.

Seven years ago Mrs Bradey lost another of her 11 children – five-year-old son Dalton – to meningococcal.

On Friday she will bury her second child with his little brother in the Gympie Lawn Cemetery.

Mrs Bradey and partner Carol Kirby fought back tears as they spoke with The Gympie Times about their beloved son.

“He would always make you laugh and was always singing around the house,” they said.

“He was our Brittany Spears.

“He loved singing, hugs and kisses, especially from his sisters.”

Jaxson had just finished his first-year cadet certificate with the SES and was hoping to work in the aged care industry.

“He was gentle, kind and against all types of violence,” Mrs Bradey said.

“He didn’t like violence; he said it was childish and stupid.”

His sister Katrina said no matter what mood he was in he could make you laugh. “He wasn’t a rebel, he was a good kid,” she said.

Mrs Bradey said Jaxson didn’t know his attacker and that he was walking to Goldfields Plaza after trying to pick up his mobile phone from school when the attack happened.

“The only reason he went to school was to pick up his mobile phone after it was confiscated for ringing in class. He was going to text me to come and pick him up.

“He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

She said she hoped the alleged offender would be prosecuted as an adult.

“If you do an adult crime, why not?

“Judges have been handing out lenient sentences for a long time just because of the age of someone.

“It’s not about the age, it’s about the crime.”

Jaxson’s ‘second mum’ Carol Kirby said judges needed to put themselves in the shoes of other people.

“If it was your child what would you want done?”

Mrs Bradey was full of praise for Dave Phillips, the local shop owner who disarmed the alleged attacker while trying to save Jaxson.

Mr Phillips was also stabbed in the scuffle.

“I want to thank Dave face to face,” Mrs Bradey said.

“He put his life on the line to try and save Jaxson. I want him to see I really do appreciate everything he tried to do.”

And Mrs Bradey would like to thank the whole Gympie community which, she says, has been so supportive to her and the family.

“They have pulled together and really helped us out,” she said.

Jaxson’s funeral service will be held at the chapel of the Gympie Crematorium before he is buried with his brother at the Gympie Lawn Cemetery on Friday morning.

‘He was gentle, kind and against all types of violence

Originally published as Jaxson Bradey's mum mourns loss