The life of a deceased teenager was celebrated after 300 tractors celebrated their birthday

Massey Ferguson’s, John Deeres, Zetors and a couple of David Browns went into effect over the weekend to mark the life of a teenager.

Matthew McCallan, 15, died of hypothermia on December 4 and should have turned 16 yesterday.

To mark the occasion, tractors from farms across Northern Ireland came to Dungannon in County Tyrone to his home village of Carrickmore for a 15 mile charity run.

Thousands watched the procession and sang Happy Birthday together before a balloon with Forever 15 and the number 16 written on it went up.

The parade was led by Matthew’s mother, Frances, who said he loved the event.

She said: “He’s here having fun with us. We went to his grave this morning and put flowers on it. I cried heartily and then just said, “This is it, this is just a special day for Matthew and I’m going to enjoy it.”

Grandmother Margaret Ann called the event “more sweet than bitter”, adding: “The generosity of the people is amazing. I can’t believe there are so many tractors in Northern Ireland.”

The celebration comes after months of pain for Matthew’s family. Frances said: “It was awful; terrible. If you haven’t lost a child, you won’t understand.

‘I’m empty. A part of me is missing. My whole daily routine has changed. As a person you have changed. I’ll never be the person I was again, but I’m a different person now and I’m up for anything to be completely honest.

“Whereas before I would have been shy – I would have hid from an interview – but now I’m ready to do anything.

‘I was going to say I can’t believe it [the generosity of everyone]but I can believe it because there are good people out there and the support they have given us over the last few months has been amazing.

“Matthew’s friends are great, I love it when they come in and everything today just speaks for itself and what people think of him.”

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