In most situations experience makes a situation easier to handle. The one part of life that I can’t apply that to is death. I have had a lot of experience with death throughout my life. I’m sure a lot of people are worse off but it does feel like I’ve lost more people than the average 24 year old. That’s the thing with death, everyone will always feel that their loss was pointless and unnecessary and impossible to understand. While the death of a parent or grandparent is always tragic, most people will agree that the passing of a young person is the hardest to understand.

I want to share Merron Martin’s story with the world because his death is a real tragedy.

Merron grew up in Greytown and attended the same tiny high school as me. His older brother Jarred was in my class. After school he moved in with my closest circle of friends in Durban. Whenever I went to visit Merron and I would have long debates and discussions far beyond the frivolous kak most of us would talk about.

He was one of the purist people you could meet. He wore his morals and beliefs on his sleeve and is one of the few people I’ve ever known to have the conviction to actually live by them. Merron was always willing to drop anything to help a friend and he is probably the most mild-mannered person I’ve met.

Merron’s career path and the cause of his death is an extension of his wonderful nature. Merron was training to be a pilot for the NSRI (National Sea Rescue Institute). In a routine exercise the helicopter that Merron was in plummeted to the ground and burst into flames. Merron escaped relatively safe but the pilot was still trapped in the helicopter. Despite the chances of the pilot’s survival Merron went back into the flames to save him. His heroics resulted in terrible burns and smoke getting into his lungs. Merron spent two and a half weeks in ICU before his body eventually gave in.

It’s amazing that when someone passes away unexpectedly we always focus on the details. It’s almost as if the facts and figures make it easier to keep a distance from the actual event. Unfortunately I don’t have enough details to focus on. Please keep Merron’s parents, brother and sister in your thoughts, we can’t begin to understand what the last few weeks have been like.