LOSING one child is a tragedy from which no parent could ever truly recover. So imagine, if you can, the heartbreaking plight of a Swansea couple who have between them lost three sons in the past seven years.

All three committed suicide.

Now, despite their grief, Michael Meehan and Jane Rothwell-Meehan have bravely spoken out to urge other parents to look for the telltale signs so they do not go through the same shattering ordeal.

Mr Meehan said: "I would like parents to be aware of the dangers if they see subtle changes in their sons. Although we live in a tremendous world of communications, we are not communicating properly.

"These youngsters open accounts on social networking sites. You can't access them or get to them. You don't know what's going on.

"At the moment we are reeling. We are trying to get our heads around what has happened.

"You wonder if you could have changed things. All these young men may have a deep sense of loneliness.

"They feel lonely although they know they are loved by their brothers and sisters and friends."

Yesterday a verdict of suicide was returned on the death of Mrs Rothwell-Meehan's 23-year-old son Christopher Hendra, who was found hanged at his home in Pennant Road, Swiss Valley, last month.

Seven years earlier he had found his elder brother James hanging in the garage of their home.

Mr Meehan's son, Christopher Meehan, was struck by a train at Gypsy Cross, Waunarlwydd, on February 1 last year.

A verdict of suicide was returned.

Mrs Rothwell-Meehan spoke of the heartache the three suicides had caused.

On February 18, 2001, she woke around midnight and noticed the light on in the garage.

She said: "I saw my son Chris was trying to hold up his brother James and cut him loose from the beam.

"Chris was only aged 16 at the time and with my other son, Paul, who was aged 13 at the time, we laid James on the floor.

"I was on the phone to ambulance control who were giving me instructions to try to get James breathing again.

"I thought at one time we were succeeding but, of course, it was too late."

She said the loss had a devastating effect on her family.

"His older sister, who was pregnant with our second grandchild, was devastated as she and James were particularly close.

"I have never got over this and, of course, I know my children and their father also felt the same.

"I now realise one mistake as parents we made was that we didn't go for counselling as a family.

"As time went by, their father and I split up because nothing was ever the same after that.

"I moved to Swansea and remarried two years later."

She said her then-new stepson Christopher was very similar to her own son Chris.

"Both were very alike in their outlook," she said, "both very intelligent and inquisitive and also very sensitive lads, as my James also was.

"I was beginning to feel a little more comfortable, laughing and enjoying some of my life, which I could not do before."

But on February 1 last year, the family was rocked once again when Christopher died on the railway line in Waunarlwydd.

Mrs Rothwell-Meehan said: "This was such a tremendous shock to my husband and to me, of course, as I got very close to Christopher.

"His death brought everything back to me, and I also know it did the same to my children and their father. We were back on the long journey of loss and sorrow.

"I did my best to comfort Christopher's dad as I knew what he was going through.

"Recently things were things starting to look kind of normal, we could see the dull light at the end of that long tunnel."

However, just as the family were beginning to come to terms with their loss, tragedy struck yet again.

Mrs Rothwell-Meehan said: "On August 11, I had a call from my son, Paul, telling me my Chris had died.

"The shock was so unbearable. I could not believe another of our children had gone.

"I don't know how we are going to cope with this.

"But I do know we will try to do our best to be strong for each other and the family.

"My Chris had taken his life exactly the same way as my son, James, in exactly the same place and I think about the same time.

"Chris never got over the shock of finding his brother, but it was very difficult to get him to talk about it.

"All three boys took their lives because of difficult relationships.

"We are now on this long journey and don't know when that will end, but our children who have passed over will always be in our hearts.

"We now have to look at the children and grandchildren that are still with us and we pray that they will never have to experience that dark place and that deep sense of loneliness that our boys did."

Mr Meehan added: "In seven years, three boys have gone from within the same family. We tried every angle to find out why.

"It's the connection they want from being in love with a companion. When it goes wrong, it has a profound effect on them.

"But people who are supposed to have knowledge of this tell you, you might have delayed the inevitable, but we will never know."

Mrs Rothwell-Meehan's thoughts were also with other families hit by suicide.

She said: "Our heartfelt sympathy to all families who are going through the same as us and will be doing so for a very long time."