From the heart

By Jade Lawton
THE family of Pakenham teenager Cameron Lowe say they are overwhelmed by the community support that has flooded in since the 17-year-old died on Monday.
Cameron was walking home from Hungry Jack’s on Saturday night when he was punched by another youth in Cunningham Crescent at 12am Sunday.
He hit his head on the road. Hours later, he went into cardiac arrest and was placed into an induced coma before being flown to The Alfred hospital.
Speaking at a packed media conference in Melbourne yesterday, his mother Rikki Arney said her house was full of flowers and food left by friends and grieving teenagers.
“We have so much support. The whole of Pakenham, the whole community – I never knew how many people loved him,” she said.
“These young kids are coming into the house, just broken. So many young lives … I didn’t know how much a community could be affected.”
Ms Arney said Cameron, thesecond of eight children, was assaulted and robbed in Pakenham earlierthis year. She said that was the first time he was allowed to walk outsideat night – the tragic events of the weekend were the second.
“He was only meant to go get a hamburger and come home,” she said. “There are too many kids walking the streets with nothing to do.
“Something needs to be done, it will keep happening and there are going to be other parents up here.”
Before the group left to walk to Hungry Jack’s, Ms Arney told her son to come straight home.
“He told me he loved me, and that I was the best mum in the world. And I am never going to hear that again.”
Ms Arney said she had been touched by friends and family who had recounted their stories of Cameron.
“I just found out all (these stories) last night, and I never knew he was such a cheeky little bugger,” she said. “He was a character.
“I hope he can feel how much we loved him, how much we never wanted him to leave.”
Ms Arney said Cameron, who wanted to be a baker, had his whole life ahead of him.
“He was meant to go back to school on Monday because he wanted to do better for himself. But instead we had to say goodbye to him,” she said.
“I just want everyone to know what a beautiful kid he was, taken before his time.”
Cameron’s father Gavin Lowe said the last few days had been a blur.
“Everything is going so fast but at the same time it’s slow-motion,” he said.
“You would not wish this on your worst enemy.”
Ms Arney said the family had begun planning the funeral and hoped to have a white casket so Cameron’s friends could sign their name.
Asked about their feelings towards the youth who hit Cameron, both his parents said they felt sorry for him.
“At the moment, so many lives are lost,” Ms Arney said.