Sam’s best friend Jai died suddenly — the grief veered Sam off a dark path and toward post traumatic growth

Sam Ellis’s best friend Jai Reed was in the waiting room when Sam was born, and for the next 16 years they were inseparable.

Their mothers were childhood best friends and the two boys — born six months apart — looked set to extend that bond for another generation.

“Jai was this really outgoing kid, there wasn’t a single person that met him that didn’t love him,” Sam said.

“He was just one of those people you’d meet at a party and speak to him for 10 seconds and become best mates with him.

The friends couldn’t have been more…