After the tragic passing of her son at the hands of a recreational drug, a mother from Sussex has dedicated her life to an award-winning campaign around the dangers of drug use. 

Nicci Parish was fast asleep when the phone rang in the early hours of the 10th November, 2020. The contents of that phone call changed the course of her life in the most unimaginable of ways. The previous day had marked her eldest son’s 24th birthday, marred by the tediousness of lockdown, stuck inside unable to celebrate with friends. 

Billy was full of life, colour, and endless creativity which carried him through life. He loved experimenting with fashion and hairstyles, modelling, and cooking. All he had wanted to do was celebrate, properly mark his birthday, just have a little bit of harmless fun. Working as a carer through lockdown was no easy feat, despite his love for the job and helping people, and so his birthday seemed like the optimal chance to unwind. What came next changed a family forever. 

In the early hours of the 10th November, and after a few drinks, Billy and his girlfriend took MDMA at her flat. MDMA, also known as ecstasy, is a Class A drug in the UK. 

It didn’t take long for his health to begin to deteriorate. In a state of panic, Billy’s girlfriend contacted their friends, unsure of what to do. She phoned her mum, who informed Nicci of the situation while an ambulance was called. Billy was gravely unwell, his blood unable to clot, which meant he was rapidly bleeding out through his eyes, nose, ears and from the lines doctors had put in. Suffering from liver and kidney failure, Billy was put on dialysis. 

“I was told that he’d taken a recreational drug, and I didn’t actually know what MDMA was, and I thought, ‘I’m a mum and I don’t know anything about recreational drugs’, the only thing I’d ever said to Billy was ‘just say no’,” Nicci, 51, tells The Optimist.

Nicci, having rushed to the hospital to be by her son’s side, was limited by Covid-19 restrictions that forced her to wait alone for updates on Billy’s condition.  

“Right at the beginning in the hospital, I was thinking ‘something has to be done, I need to warn.’ We need to have a bit more knowledge.”

After two days spent in the Intensive Therapy Unit at Worthing Hospital, the decision was made to transfer Billy to Kings College Hospital in London for frozen plasma treatment that gave him a five percent chance of survival. Despite the risks involved with transporting him so far, it was the last option available to try and save Billy’s life, and he survived the journey. 

After the very best efforts and care from doctors and nurses, Billy passed away on the 12th November 2020, moments before Nicci arrived at the hospital.

A recreational party drug, an attempt at escape, had taken a life and destroyed countless others.

The loss of a child is a parent’s deepest fear and it had suddenly become Nicci’s entire reality. 

“It’s really hard because you have a stigma with grief and people don’t want to talk to you because they don’t know what to say. You have an even bigger stigma with being a bereaved parent; I’ve had people cross the road to avoid me or not look me in the eye. You have the added bit of it being a drug death, and drug deaths carry their own stigma.” Nicci says. 

“Before Christmas, we were organising his funeral, and after that, I decided I wanted to do something, and that’s when I wrote Billy’s story, and came up with the idea for Billy and Beyond, which was set up in August 2021. 

Nicci sought to build something out of the ruins of her family’s lives, and partnered with her close friend, Amy Bower, 47, a community development manager. They came up with the name and direction of what they wanted to achieve. Billy and Beyond was born with the goal of educating and supporting young people and children on the dangers of recreational drug use. Family and friends took on different roles in order to build the Community Interest Company and create a direction for Nicci’s vision. It was important for her to create a judgement-free space for people to share their personal journeys. 

“We are not naive to think we are going to eradicate young people taking drugs, but what we believe in is that if you can encourage people and their parents or carers to have open conversations, then you have a better chance of people being equipped with the knowledge, skills and the bravery if it goes wrong.” Amy, Director of Billy and Beyond, tells The Optimist. 

This led to the charity offering drug awareness workshops for young people and children, which included visiting schools to inform on the dangers of drug use, and this became popular across West Sussex schools and colleges. Nicci felt strongly about catering workshops to parents as well, as she realised how little knowledge there is available to parents, aside from ‘Just Say No’, an anti-drug campaign that now feels outdated. 

“Initially my goal was to educate and give young people knowledge on recreational drugs, but more than that, it was about giving the parents the tools and awareness to speak to young people, because I didn’t have that. When I do workshops now with parents, I make it really clear that you don’t have to know everything, and it’s fine as long as we’re talking about it.

“The workshops that we do are not all about saying no anymore, because sometimes that’s not an option, we talk about safety and how to keep safe. I don’t think we’re gonna stop it, but if people are educated, hopefully we will prevent more young deaths from recreational drugs.” Nicci says.

In 2023, Nicci worked with filmmaker Morgan Films on creating an animation that told Billy’s story and highlighted the charity’s message. They wanted to create something that encapsulated Billy’s spirit, and could also be used as a material to educate others on drug safety. 

Billy’s Story depicts the decline of Billy’s health and the Parish family’s grief, using edgy art styles and the signature purple hues of Billy and Beyond. The film is shown in workshops as a hard hitting reminder of how quickly things can change and go wrong, leaving a lasting impact and a lot of food for thought. 

“We use the film at the end of our workshops, and after that, the audience finds out I’m Billy’s mum. After one workshop, a girl told me that she’d never take MDMA again, and this was a girl that the school was quite worried about.” says Nicci. 

“Through Billy’s story, he’s saving other people and other families from going through this, and educating young people; it’s his legacy.”

Billy’s Story went on to be nominated for a Smiley Charity Film Award, and won gold in the 2025 People’s Choice category.

“A lot of people will think the film is too hard hitting for teenagers to watch, but our teenagers are watching stuff all the time that is much more brutal, and this is a real, true story; this happened and this is how it happened.

The success of the film has demonstrated its necessity in today’s landscape, where drug use has become increasingly normalised. At the end of 2024, it was found that drug use amongst 16-24 year olds had increased, with 16.5 percent admitting to taking drugs. Stigmas around drug use and drug-related deaths are still prevalent, which makes Billy’s story and Nicci’s mission even more important than ever.

“Nicci could have shied away from it; watching that film every time is painful, everytime she delivers a workshop and recounts it, she is reliving that trauma. But the benefit and potential positiveness that can come out of it gives her the strength to do it. Her motivation is that she does not want any other family to go through what they did.” Says Amy. 

Nicci has appeared on the news and the radio, and has become a pillar of her community as she continues to share Billy’s story, often organising charity fundraising events. ‘Glastonbilly’ – a music festival style event that honours Billy’s love for live music and parties – 

and the annual pub crawl across Worthing Have become staples, centering around Billy’s personality and interests. Billy and Beyond organised a 26 mile walk from Worthing to Kings College Hospital in honor of Billy’s journey between the hospitals, raising money for the charity. It was always essential for Nicci and the team to keep Billy and his outgoing personality at the forefront of their plans and initiatives. 

“Everything that we do is something that Billy would find hysterically funny – like a 26 mile walk – or is something that he would have liked to go to. We have a big fundraiser coming up, and lots of workshops which are growing. The smiley award just opens doors and gives us bigger coverage. Nicci wants to do a feature film and wants us to be a standalone organisation,” Amy says. 

“Billy and Beyond will be going as long as Nicci is breathing.”