A WOMAN who lost five family members prematurely has arranged for them all to be commemorated on a bench.

Michelle Vaid has dealt with many of her family dying from issues related to addiction and mental health.

She now helps others deal with grief.

She is working to have five plaques dedicated to her late family members placed on a Hove seafront bench.

Due to a troubled upbringing, Michelle, 43, was homeless at the age of seven.

She washed cars to keep herself off the streets and managed to secure a place at university.

But her life challenges did not stop there.

Her mother, Polly Vaid, died aged 58 in 2005 from cancer.

Then in 2014 her father Mo Vaid, who was an alcoholic, died aged 63 from poor health.

Michelle said: “The first loss is the worst because you don’t have the coping mechanisms to deal with it.

“Alcoholism is a dangerous lifestyle. Since my parents died I thought I don’t want to end up like them.”

Michelle, who lives in Shoreham, then went on to complete two degrees, foster children and travel the world.

In 2012 she gave birth to a stillborn daughter, Jasmine, while living in Sicily.

She said: “I felt reborn in Sicily, but I still wasn’t quite there in terms of dealing with everything I grew up with.

“I believe Jasmine’s birth was a sign. You can’t help someone grow until you have grown yourself.”

A few years later, she lost “brother” Sean O’Sullivan to suicide. She said: “He wasn’t my blood brother, but we were so close and he killed himself aged just 51.

“I then lost my brother Sajeev to a heart attack this year in January. We hadn’t seen each other for 15 years, then I met up with him, and then he died a month later.”

“Death will mess you up, but the more it happens, the stronger you become, and that’s what I share with others who I work with through my programme, Life: Work In Progress.

“I have learnt how to manage anything that comes my way, and that’s what I am now teaching others, and that’s what these plaques represent.”

A city council spokeswoman said: “We can’t be sure that this bench has the most plaques in the city, but it is certainly unusual to have five.”

Three of the five plaques have been installed and Michelle is awaiting the final two.