A KELTY dad who has struggled for years with suicidal thoughts has shared his inspirational story to help others coping with mental health challenges during lockdown.

Fraser Sneddon, 34, who is originally from Lochgelly, has been battling with depression most of his life after being born with a rare liver disease.

His condition, biliary atresia, made him extremely ill and, just days away from death, he received a liver transplant at the age of 25.

The young dad survived miraculously but the effects of years of anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts caused by his physical health didn't disappear too.

Fraser, who lives in Blairfordel, told the Press even just a few short months ago his family were in tears helping him through a bad period of mental health and he is now fighting a daily battle to not fall into depression through lockdown.

He said: "A lot of my mental health problems stem from my physical health.

"From the day I was born, I had liver issues.

"When I was young, I didn't really notice it but when I got to my teenage years I felt like I couldn't do a lot of things my friends could.

"My physical health got worse, I was in and out of the hospital and taking a lot of medication.

"I was treated differently and looked different and I couldn't get on with my career so my self-esteem was terrible.

"It wasn't right away that I thought I didn't want to be there as I didn't really have time to think about it but it was in the back of my head.

"But in my early 20s every time I started something I would get ill.

"I felt like I hadn't achieved anything.

"My mental health was at an all-time low and I just couldn't cope."

Fraser's liver became so dysfunctional that doctors said he needed an organ transplant urgently and spent a month on a waiting list.

During that time, he didn't believe he would make it and if a liver became available there was still a chance he wouldn't survive such a major operation.

He even asked his childhood sweetheart, Nicole, to leave him and wrote a letter to his family preparing them for his own death.

"I remember struggling to get up the stairs of a cafe and I was only about six-and-a-half stone," he said.

"I told my mum just to take me back to the hospital as I wasn't going to make it.

"I just felt like life's punching bag.

"I also told my missus that I reckoned I only had a week to live.

"A match did come though and, miraculously, eight days later I was out!

"I made a quick recovery but I still questioned how I was alive.

"I thought that would be it but my mental health plummeted again.

"I just couldn't put my finger on why I felt like that.

"I had been given the gift of life and people would think that I should be on cloud nine but I was still battling with suicidal thoughts."

Fraser's outlook changed when a friend of his tried to commit suicide from a drugs overdose.

He ran to his bedside and opened up about his feelings to help the friend in need.

After helping the friend though a dark period, he decided he could help others and volunteered with Support in Mind Scotland, an organisation that works to improve the wellbeing and quality of life of people affected by serious mental illness.

Fraser now works in construction and married Nicole, who never left his side.

They are also parents to two-year-old Abie.

And just last week he wrote a blog post to help others cope during lockdown for Support in Mind.

Fraser added: "I just couldn't keep how I was feeling to myself anymore and I just said it how it was.

"I explained how I was coping with my mental health and the anxiety I suffered.

"My pal said that if it wasn't for me then he wouldn't here and it was then I thought I could share my knowledge with others.

"I've had a lot of people messaging me about opening up on the blog.

"I would say what's helped me most is accepting what has happened to me and that I do struggle with my mental health at times.

"Instead of thinking I should be at a particular stage in my life I've accepted it and I'm learning to how to manage my anxiety.

"It does flare up but hopefully that will become less and less as time goes by."

To read Fraser's blog in full, visit the Support in Mind Scotland website or their Facebook page.

You can call Support in Mind Scotland's helpline on 0300 323 1545.