Speaking to Denis, it is evident that the devastation is something that will always be a part of him and his family.

"We were working in the yard and we decided that we would go over to to get a sheet of plastic that was rolled up in one of the fields. So I hopped up on the tractor and headed for the field. I stopped the tractor and got out to open the gate into the field."

"As I was walking back to the tractor I heard a thud at the back of the tractor, that seemed to come from the PTO. There was nothing on the back of the tractor at the time and the PTO was switched off so I didn't know what could be causing the noise."

I don't exactly know what happened and I will never know

"When I got around to the back of the tractor I saw his body. I don't exactly know what happened and I will never know but he must have been trying to climb into the tractor from the back and grabbed the leaver to turn on the PTO. The PTO then caught him and pulled him in."

"I gathered him up as best I could and rushed him to hospital."

"He had lost his left hand and sustained serious head injuries. The accident happened on 29 September, he fought for a week in the hospital and passed away on 5 October."

"It was devastating and it affected us all but we had two other young children at the time so we had to keep going for them. If it wasn't for them we would have cut ourselves off completley."

Heartbreak

"Shannan was a great child, there was a bit of devilment about him and a bit of mischief like every young lad. He loved being out around the farm and was always a great help."

"A few days before the accident he asked could he go to the Ploughing Championships and I told him we would go next year. It would have been something I always went to but after that I couldn't face it. When something like this happens it changes every aspect of your life and everything you do from that day on is different.

"People never expect this to land at their door and we were no different. You never think it will be you, until it is."

Embrace FARM

"I was listening to Radio One on a Saturday morning last year, which I wouldn't usually be listening to and I heard an ad for Embrace FARM's remembrance mass that was going to be on that Sunday. Shannan would have been 21 that Sunday. I took it as a sign that I was meant to go to the mass."

"Every year around his birthday it gets very raw, 13 years later and it's still raw."

To meet other families that all have that ghost in the room with them gave everybody common ground

"To meet other families that all have that ghost in the room with them gave everybody common ground. We had all been through the same thing and know the heartbreak that people are suffering."

As difficult as it was for Denis to share his story, he hopes that some day it might help save a precious life.