A MOTHER whose daughter committed suicide has held a charity dog walk in her memory. Charlotte Hall, 37, overdosed on drugs in November last year, after battling with bipolar disorder (manic depression) for eight years. Charlotte was buried on what would have been her 38th birthday.

Her mother, Lyn Wells, raised nearly £1,000 by organising a sponsored dog walk across the Yorkshire Wolds, in aid of York and District Mind, the charity that supported Charlotte and her family.

Mrs Wells wanted to raise awareness of mental health.

She said: “It is brushed under the carpet because people are frightened of it. Charlotte said to me; ‘If I had cancer I would have been told I was going die, or they were going to make me better; but with this’, and she just held up her hands.

“It’s a dreadful illness and robbed Charlotte of everything. Like every illness it can kill and it does.”

Charlotte who attended Woldgate College in Pocklington, gained two degrees from Sheffield University and was training to become a consultant.

Mrs Wells explained Charlotte suffered from rapid-cycle bipolar disorder, where the highs and the lows come quickly after one another. She said Charlotte could be depressive and not get out of bed or become manic, cleaning all night.

“When you are on these highs you are invincible,” she said.

“The doctors and nurses told me to take Charlotte’s car keys away from her because she would think she was Stirling Moss, and to hide her credit card.”

Mrs Wells said she wanted the dog walk, which was sponsored by East Yorkshire Holidays4Dogs, to become an annual event to raise money for more research to go into mental health.