{"id":398562,"date":"2025-09-05T00:07:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T00:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/398562\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T00:07:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T00:07:13","slug":"everyones-only-a-phone-call-away-from-your-whole-life-falling-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/398562\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Everyone’s only a phone call away from your whole life falling apart’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The widow of Jay Newby-Gallagher said his death came “completely out of the blue”<\/p>\n

17:30, 04 Sep 2025Updated 19:31, 04 Sep 2025<\/p>\n

\"KayleighKayleigh said Jay was a “massive part of all our lives”(Image: Kayleigh Newby-Gallagher)<\/p>\n

The widow of a man who died in a crash says she is living through a \u201cnightmare\u201d every day. Jay Newby-Gallagher died after his motorbike and a blue Renault Zoe<\/a> collided on Northway in Maghull at around 8.30am on Wednesday, May 14.<\/p>\n

The keen biker was on a Suzuki motorbike which was involved in a crash<\/a> with a car outside the Aldi store at the junction of Dover Road. The 34-year-old, who was from the Maghull<\/a> area, died at the scene.<\/a><\/p>\n

Merseyside Police<\/a> announced the day after Jay\u2019s death that a 34-year-old woman from South Tyneside was arrested on suspicion of causing death by careless driving. She was released on conditional bail. A police spokesperson told the ECHO<\/a> today that the suspect remains on conditional bail.<\/p>\n

Jay had been in a relationship with Kayleigh Newby-Gallagher for 15 years and the couple had been married for eight years. Speaking to the ECHO<\/a> about what Jay was like, Kayleigh, 32, from Maghull, said: \u201dHe was always so happy, always making people laugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just had this way of knowing what people found funny. He would do impressions of everyone. He used to gig in local bars around Liverpool – he was an acoustic solo singer.<\/p>\n

“Everyone loved the Irish cover songs. We would sing them really quickly and everyone would be up singing and dancing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was really supportive, really caring. He helped not just me, but my family and his family through, so many things over the years and he just never made anyone feel like it was an inconvenience to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kayleigh was away from home when she was told that Jay had died. She said: \u201cI was away for work and I had left the night before. I got a phone call while I was at work to say that Jay had been in an accident and the paramedics had been there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I got another call after that. I’m quite lucky I’ve got such supportive colleagues to be honest because they were all with me at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t remember a lot of what happened afterwards. It was completely out of the blue. He\u2019d get his bike to work most days. It was just a normal day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KayleighKayleigh Newby-Gallagher and Jay Newby-Gallagher were together for 15 years(Image: Kayleigh Newby-Gallagher)<\/p>\n

Almost four months on, Kayleigh is still coming to terms with what has happened. She said: \u201cJay was just such a massive part of all of our lives. It’s never going to be the same again. He was my whole world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s like living a nightmare every single day, waking up, knowing that I’ve got to get through another day without him. I think you realise how much of an effect he\u2019s had with the amount of people that have been grieving since the accident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kayleigh has been supported during this time by Sudden Sam, an organisation that supports the friends and family of people who have died suddenly. It is named after Sam Mercer, a 35 year-old from Crosby<\/a> who died after having surgery for a broken leg<\/a> in 2023.<\/p>\n

Kayleigh will be doing a paraglide in memory of Jay, with all money going to Sudden Sam. She said: \u201cThey were able to provide counselling within a few days of me getting in contact with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really nice to just have a safe space to talk about my feelings. You hear about these things all the time and always think it won’t happen to you. But really everyone’s only a phone call away from your whole life falling apart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the work that they do is amazing. They can provide emotional, financial and practical support for people in the Liverpool City Region and I\u2019d like to help them provide that support.<\/p>\n

\u201cParagliding is something that me and Jay had spoken about doing for a while, and we were actually supposed to do it on holiday last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve always just been a little bit nervous but Jay would always say to me that I’d be fine. It\u2019s just a little bit of a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

The donations and support Kayleigh has received has been of some comfort during this time. She said: \u201cPeople have been so supportive already. Seeing everyone donating and sharing the fundraiser, it\u2019s really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can find out more about Kayleigh\u2019s fundraiser here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mental health support<\/p>\n

Helplines and support groups<\/strong><\/p>\n

The following are helplines and support networks for people to talk to, mostly listed on the NHS Choices website<\/a><\/p>\n