THE heartbroken family of a mental health nurse have told how she “meticulously” planned her own suicide after telling them she was going to kill herself.

Ayr student nurse Megan Copeland, took her own life after talking through her suicide plan with her parents. She was only 20-years-old.

Now her family have told the Ayr Advertiser how they have accepted she would commit suicide after she “achieved a peace of mind that she hadn’t had in seven years”

Tragic Megan was found dead by her dad Rob on Monday, September 30 when he came home from work, and her mum was working in the Shetland Islands.

Mum Jenny said: “Sadly it was her daddy that found her. It was well planned and it was meticulous. It wasn’t traumatic, it would appear that she was able to probably induce her sleep before it happened. It was peaceful.”

Megan had battled mental illness for seven years and had attempted suicide three times before. She was laid to rest last week at St John Ogilvie in Irvine.

The former St Matthew’s Academy pupil was studying to be a mental health nurse at Ayr University West of Scotland.

Jenny says Megan openly spoke of her struggles and suicidal thoughts – and says the family had prepared for the worst.

She said: “The reality is we were privileged. We had a review with her psychiatrist, we were all able to sit very calmly and talk about the options and what would happen. Rob and I were able to accept what we would have to accept if she completed.

“She had a chance to think about the impact that it would have on the family and the friends and she had everything to live for, she was such a beautiful child and woman.”

Devastated brother Gary thinks Megan set out to have the best month ever before she made the tragic decision to end her life.

He said: “Not a single one of us wanted this to happen. We all loved her so, so much but unfortunately she had a darkness in her life that she just couldn’t get past.

“It’s not the usual case of suicide. We kind of said our goodbyes, it wasn’t a case of if, it felt like a case of when.

“The last four weeks she was in a really good place, looking really happy and as if she had made her mind up, but none of us knew that, we were just enjoying the time with her. I was enjoying having my little sister back.”

“Watching your little sister, watching the girl you have seen grow up from a baby to a young woman struggle so much in her life was tough. All any of us wanted to do was make sure she was happy and had a good quality of life.”

Now the family have set up a crowd funding page to honour her legacy and create ‘Megan’s Space’, a community support hub to help other young people who are struggling with mental health.

Jenny, was overwhelmed by the response from the community, with hundreds of flowers arriving at the family home.

She said: “The door just started going every 20 minutes and all sorts of flowers were coming in from people and different places. “Within four hours we had thousands of pounds worth of flowers in the house. I just thought all of this money could be going to help services or save someone else. So we sat down and drafted it and put it out there.”

The Crowdfunding page for Megan’s Space as reached £13,147 so far.