When I was asked to speak at Call to Action's second annual Walk in Memory, Walk for Hope event last week, I was honoured.
It was held on Sept. 10, World Suicide Prevention Day, which is an important day to recognize.
Suicide is happening every day, and it's more common than people think.
In a suicide statistics report on the Canadian Mental Health Association Toronto branch website, it says that according to the World Health Organization, someone around the globe takes their own life every 40 seconds.
When I was nine years old, I lost my older brother Kristoffer to suicide. He was 19 at the time and I thought he was so old – but now that I am 21, I realize how young he really was.
I still remember waking up to police officers at my house, and my parents pulling my two sisters and I into my bedroom to have a talk. My mom was crying so hard she could hardly breathe.
My dad told us Kris had passed away and gone to heaven, just like Mufasa did in The Lion King, but that it was his choice.
I can still feel the overwhelming rush of immense pain in my heart, but at the same time, at that moment, I didn't feel very surprised.
Kris had been suffering from depression for quite some time, and even I could see it. I always wanted to help him, but I felt like I never could.
I also lost my uncle Paul to suicide when I was 17. He was a wonderful man who always made people laugh. But it was clear that he had been suffering from depression as well.
I would like to commend the community for once again coming together and raising awareness about suicide.
It's important to show support for those who are suffering from depression and may be contemplating suicide. They are not alone and they shouldn't feel ashamed to ask for help.
When someone is going through a loss, it helps to be able to talk to someone who understands on some level. And if people didn't come together, people wouldn't know that there are others who understand.
So thank you, Call to Action, for working to get this message out there. And thank you to my boyfriend, my parents and my sisters, for leaving work early and travelling from Calgary after a snowstorm to attend the event.
Rest in paradise to all those who have decided their lives weren't worth living anymore, because to us, your lives were worth more than you understood.
