Introducing: National Suicide Prevention Week 2013.

By Alyce YoungbloodSeptember 8, 2013

Today, September 8, marks the start of 2013’s National Suicide Prevention Week. It’s a time for organizations, communities, and individuals to come together in the name of those we’ve lost and those who’ve been affected by the reality of suicide. The vision is that this is a battle we won’t always have to fight. However, recent numbers show that, within the developed world, suicide is the leading cause of death among people ages 15- 49, greater even than cancer or heart disease. It claims more lives than war, murder, and natural disasters combined. But—and there is a “but,” because there is always hope—we know suicide can be prevented. Depression can be treated, help is available, and people can rally around truth and around each other to conquer the shame and secrecy upon which mental health stigma feeds. Never has it been more important to spread this message: “You cannot be replaced.”

TWLOHA has already told you a bit about how we’ll be involved in the vital conversations taking place this week and on World Suicide Prevention Day (September 10), but just in case, here’s a reminder of the ways in which you can join us:

1. Show your support with our World Suicide Prevention Day pack.
Our WSPD pack is no longer available in the TWLOHA Online Store. If you purchased a pack for World Suicide Prevention Day, send a photo to [email protected] so we can share it with other supporters.

2. Get the word out on social media.
Change your profile photos, cover photos, and backgrounds on your social media accounts using our NSPW social media assets. Throughout the week, share what you’re doing to create awareness for suicide prevention using the hashtags #NSPW13 (for National Suicide Prevention Week) and #WSPD13 for (World Suicide Prevention Day). Don’t forget to tag @TWLOHA on Instagram and Twitter so we can see how your community is getting involved!

3. Tell us: Why can’t you be replaced?
Download this printable PDF and write about your worth by sharing a reason you believe you cannot be replaced. Email it to us a [email protected] so we can share it during NSPW. (You can also post it on social media by tagging @TWLOHA and using the #NSPW13 or #WSPD13 hashtag.)

4. Donate toward suicide prevention.
Help us meet the financial needs of challenging the stigma of suicide and providing support and treatment for those affected by it.

$5 – Send an acknowledgement to a family who has lost a loved one to suicide
$30 – Send flowers to a family who has lost a loved one to suicide
$50 – Provide 150 days of calls to a crisis hotline
$110 – Provide one session for a counseling scholarship
$500 – Provide 1,300 Find Help resource pamphlets/250 info cards for awareness
$1,000 – Provide one day of inpatient treatment

Keep up with TWLOHA on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram, as we’ll be sharing fresh content, photos, and stories throughout NSPW. Thanks for joining us for this life-saving week.

You cannot be replaced.

With hope,
TWLOHA

Other resources:
http://www.suicidology.org/resources/nspw
http://www.iasp.info/wspd/

**After launching our World Suicide Prevention Day / National Suicide Prevention Week campaign, we came across the organizations You Can NOT Be Replaced ® . You Can NOT Be Replaced, a charitable organization located in Manasquan, NJ, is the owner of the trademark YOU CAN NOT BE REPLACED ® . You Can NOT Be Replaced ® grew out of a desire to inspire the youth in their area, where there have been several student suicides. You can learn more about You Can NOT Be Replaced ® at www.youcannotbereplaced.com. Emily Dayton, whose family founded You Can NOT Be Replaced ®, shared here how this work has impacted her community for the better.

Leave a Reply

Comments (30)

  1. Louise Hudson

    One loss to suicide is too many. I have lost several loved ones this way. Now there are soldiers coming home from serving, and we have another whole demographic to add to those at risk. I want to do what I can to help. Bless all who work with TWLOHA! Last year, I just happened to be watching a tv show that was granting funds to nonprofits– one of those was TWLOHA– that’s how I heard of the organization and immediately signed onto the facebook page. Since then, awareness of the PTSD affected soldiers has come to my attention. So much work to do1 Staying positive!

    Reply  |  
  2. Kayla muller

    For my good friend. I live everyday at my best to make you proud.

    Reply  |  
  3. Soli

    I spent some time pondering this whole issue of replacement and I came to a conclusion that doesn’t fit on a pdf postcard:

    I can be replaced.

    I do lots of good things
    for lots of people.
    Many of them I’ve never met.
    I’ve saved lives. More than one.
    God led me to those people, to those places.
    God gave me the ability to help them.
    I did. I served.
    And then, I was replaced. In general, I don’t hear from them.
    My read: I am very useful, but not cherished.
    To be cherished you have to be known.
    No one knows me. No one loves me, because no one knows me.
    Some love what I do. It’s not the same thing.
    And everything I do could be done by someone else.
    That’s the very definition of being replaceable.
    I’m forgotten by my family:
    The child I raised is too busy to take a phone call;
    My sister is busy nursing her rage with a bottle;
    My brother is busy telling people we both know that it’s fine to treat me badly because I don’t share his particular take on Christianity.
    This is my remaining family.
    They have already replaced me.
    I’ve known true friendship, and great love in friendship.
    They died, and much too soon.
    The lesser friends who remain in my solar system are meteors zooming around their own planets.
    Catch them if you can.
    I too often can’t. And it doesn’t matter to them. Zooming matters to them. Tending their own planets matters to them.
    I’ve been to counseling.
    And felt the hate and rejection when my suffering becomes intolerable for me, and inconvenient for the counselor.
    My suffering isn’t going away.
    My body betrays me on a daily basis.
    I can’t help it.
    It’s not my fault.
    “My case” is too complicated: trauma, grief, abuse, chronic pain and disability from the hands of those who should have cared instead of hurt.
    My read: Counselors don’t want all that suffering in the room. The pain might be contagious.
    They let me know that in great and small ways. Therapists hurt people, too. More often than is talked about.
    And anyway, it’s much easier to fill an hour with clients who have emotional hangnails.
    So they do.
    I went to counseling. More than once.
    I got hurt when I confessed my suffering, when just once it leaked past a 50-minute hour.
    I got replaced.
    It was just an hour in their week
    and now it belongs to someone else.
    You can’t make someone care for you, when they do not. Even when you are paying for the time.
    That’s a hard, painful truth. I get it. I don’t need to learn it again.
    The last time I fell in love
    I was replaced by someone with less disability.
    “I couldn’t commit to you because I was afraid you would lose your mobility” he said, when I caught him cheating.
    I can be replaced.
    I have been replaced.
    If I ever meet God, I will ask why good people get replaced.
    I will ask why some people add suffering to those who are already suffering.
    I will ask why in this season of my life there isn’t one single person who knows me and loves me so that I could feel that to at least one person, I cannot be replaced.

    Reply  |  
    1. D

      I feel for you, because there was a time when I shared your view. But if you take a step back and shift your perspective, you may realize that you have no way of knowing for sure what you’ve meant to another person or how they are truly feeling… all you have is your own perception of that, not the truth of what is in the other’s heart and mind. My hope for you is that you can view “not being replaced” more in terms of what you bring to the world, not what you perceive the world thinks of you. When you have good & pure intentions and you have done good, try to assume the people on the other side of that good hold gratitude somewhere in their history because of you. Just because they are not remaining in your life or showing you outward signs of appreciation, doesn’t mean they don’t or didn’t. Keep doing what you do, but maybe you could let go of your attachment to the outcome of what you do and live in the joy of knowing your heart was open and you chose to give unconditionally… that is priceless and rare. Keep on shining and don’t ever let the behavior or choice of another person dim your light! Much love to you…

      Reply  |  
      1. Soli

        Thank you for this very thoughtful reply. I realize from reading my post it’s possible to conclude that I am attached to outcomes, but I’m really not. I would be in trouble if I were, because a lot of the work I do is in an environment where many factors are out of my control. That thought just came up as I realized that almost all of the people in my life whom I have significantly helped haven’t been part of my life, except to receive the help. It’s just relevant in the context of replacement, because obviously, they replaced me in their lives after they had been helped.

        I’m thinking of one exception: there was one neighbor who wanted to be my friend after I raised the money for her cancer surgery. And then, very sadly, after several months of being free from disease, her cancer came back and this time it was inoperable and she died. The last two days she lived here, I arranged her hospice care to follow her to Illinois so she could say goodbye to her son and a few other relatives. I think she would have become a good friend if she had lived.

        On another one of your points that I feel is generally excellent, the issue with not letting other people’s choices affect us is that when their choice is not choosing us, their choice is likely to be treading on parts of us that are already broken. I think many of us can do relatively well with insulating ourselves against other people’s choices, even when those choices hurt us, except perhaps when that choice is to reject us. I don’t think many of us handle rejection, especially significant rejection, extremely well. Because if we did, it probably would mean that our heart wasn’t ever in the relationship.

        I greatly appreciate your kindness and thoughtfulness, and I take all that to heart. Your point that we never know completely what others are thinking and feeling is especially appreciated. We rely on what we hear others say and see them do, and even then, it’s unlikely we have the whole picture. In relationships that are over, where reconciliation isn’t possible, we’ll never have the whole picture. Thank you especially for bringing that up.

        Reply  |  
    2. A friend

      You are loved even by those that have never met you yet. I too have suffered this way and its no walk in the park. My suffering may not be for the same reasons but it all hurts. This year for wspw I am taking a step towards getting myself the help I need and have been pushing off for so long. I don’t like counseling either, but there has got to be a way. Checking out TWLOHA is already a first step!
      Big hugs your way!

      Reply  |  
      1. Soli

        I appreciate very much your kind thoughts and I wish you the very best with getting the help you need. I hope you are able to find someone to see who shares your burdens in a way that makes you suffer less. I do still believe that counseling can be helpful; I’ve just had incredibly and unusually bad experiences. My doctor is now saying he doesn’t think I have the emotional resilience for another bad counseling experience; he doesn’t feel I should risk it, and he’s probably right. But, please don’t let my experiences affect you. You should go for it. I can tell you that despite having never had a good counseling experience, I’ve tried several times over many years to go to counseling, and each time I gave it my best and also did my best to be a good client. I really do believe I had some unusually nightmarish things happen, things that don’t happen to most people in counseling. Though I certainly didn’t ask for the ethical violations that were visited on me by counselors, and I don’t consider any of that my fault, in retropspect, I also could have been a lot more careful about picking a counselor, and that might have saved me some grief. Your results should be different than what has happened to me, and I pray that they are. I am rooting for you.

        Reply  |  
    3. lalasmom

      Please consider you may be suffering from depression. It can be triggered by traumatic life events – you mention close friends dying too soon. Some therapists are not equipped to deal with the seriously, chronically depressed. They ARE better suited to helping clients w/emotional hangnails. (clever expression, your sense of humor is showing) As hard as it can seem, try and find a psychologist who is experienced in clinical depression and perhaps might even help you decide if medication would help you right now. Some of my friends have had great experience with CBT, cognitive behavioral therapy. You learn to cope with emotions, not talk just about them. Someone commented you are important to the people you haven’t met yet. And I believe that is true. We all have that potential. But sometimes severe depression can disable the positive area of our brain that helps us understand that. I lost my daughter to suicide three years ago. I wish I had been able to make her believe what I’m saying to you. She can’t be replaced. And i doubt you can be either.

      Reply  |  
      1. Soli

        …and I’m sure she can’t be replaced. It’s a devastating loss. I am so sorry.

        I appreciate your thoughts about my own situation; according to my doctor, what I have is not depression in the standard way that people think about depression, but rather a reaction to some serious health issues that aren’t going to improve. But I think there are probably a lot of people on this site who are suffering from depression and who will find your suggestions helpful. And I can certainly hear that you wish you had been able to reach your daughter with what you know. I can only say from my own experience that when I am suffering emotionally, I don’t hear much of anything in the way of advice. That channel is pretty much shut down. Maybe it was the same for your daughter, that she couldn’t take in information at those moments, even information that could have helped her. What does get through to me in those moments is caring in the form of listening, thoughtful gestures, and tangible help with things I can’t do for myself any more. It could be something very simple. I was in the thrift store the other day, and the man in front of me at the cashier was rifling through a backpack, trying to find change to pay for his purchase. I said, “please put his purchase on my tab.” He turned to me and said, “Not even my family does this for me. I am going to have to tell people about this.” It was so simple, but I think it changed his story, at least for that day. Kindness, like someone like yourself taking the time to write a note, gets through to me. I’m sure your daughter appreciated all the kind things you did for her, even if she wasn’t able to tell you.

        Reply  |  
        1. lalasmom

          Like when you paid for the purchase of the man in line ahead of you. You are very right and quite perceptive about the channel of information being shut down. My daughter had OCD and when I took her to therapy at UCLA OCD Clinic they pointed out how sometimes the person has become so depressed with trying to deal with their illness, they cannot benefit from the behavior modification therapy to retrain their brain. Absolutely, the night my daughter died she was alone in her room at college, in a new apartment off campus. That isolation provided the opportunity for her to lose her perspective and tumble back into despair. She also had ferocious irritable bowel syndrome. A list of her symptoms was on her desk under the heading: “go to doctor and ask about this”. My younger daughter has an autoimmune disease that brought her home from college after her first semester. She couldn’t get out of bed. And it gets wound up in depression – a cycle of “is it the disease that’s making you exhausted or the sadness at being exhausted…” something like that. I’m sorry you are experiencing an illness that impacts your life in such a negative way. That can’t be easy. And to find it places limitations on your ability to do things for yourself must be frustrating. I will point out to anyone else who might be reading this thread – I know it’s not specific to your situation – but serious depression can debilitate a person. I once had to find a doctor for a friend and physically take him to the appointment because he was so depressed he could only lay in bed and cry. He told me later that he would look at his hand and say “will I be able to lift it up today?” Unfortunately, we tend to blame people for allowing themselves to get so depressed, or imply that they aren’t trying hard enough to be happy. We forget that many people around the world and even in many many places in the U.S . don’t even have access to the resources that could help them overcome their depression. OH, dear. I might be about to fly off the handle! I’m happy that you have a hold on your situation and an understanding of yourself. Yes, your initial post did seem rather alarming. You sounded very sad and hopeless, but I completely understood your point of view. The point to living isn’t necessarily being irreplaceable, but rather just finding pleasure in being alive. I wish the best to you in finding that pleasure and appreciate your opening up this dialogue. I learned from it, I truly did.

          Reply  |  
          1. Soli

            I am so sorry your daughter found herself in that very dark place where hope seems lost. I am so sorry for you missing her, and I am also so sorry for her. I have also been there with that list of things to ask the doctor about. My last crisis started when a physician told me that something I have that is causing progressively severe physical pain cannot be treated, that there was nothing that could be done medically or surgically for it. This was the third doctor I had seen who had independently given me the same information, the same bad news. I was not quick to give up hope; I had to hear the bad news three times from three different physicians, and the third time from a physician who was also a good friend of our family. I went online; I contacted people who are researching the condition; I went to libraries and read medical textbooks and articles; I was persistent. Nothing I was able to find out changed my news. And once I heard it from our family friend I felt I was being asked to accept the unacceptable. I could not see a good quality of life for myself with the pain; I still don’t. I am hostage to it.

            It was that bad news on a Friday that sent me into despair, and that’s when I made the phone call to my counselor, the call that precipitated my being rejected there. As I’m writing this I’m realizing it was and is a freaking miracle that the equation of pain, hopelessness about pain, and rejection when I reached out in my despair doesn’t end with my taking my life.

            I am just imagining that maybe your daughter had one or more of those medical appointments where she left without hope for her healing. I have found that once a doctor realizes s/he doesn’t have any treatment to offer, they just want me out the door, because at that moment, my situation challenges their own feelings about whether they have value to their patients. They don’t want reminders sitting around of what they can’t do, what they can’t fix. I found for myself that a hopeless medical experience can definitely precipitate a crisis, especially in a case of chronic illness. It can precipitate a crisis all by itself; it doesn’t take anything else. When it happened to me I had done what I felt was the prudent thing of getting counseling; I didn’t anticipate that my crisis would end my counseling. When that fell apart as well, I was in serious trouble. I still am in trouble; the politically correct thing to say is that I’m struggling but a lot of times it feels a lot more like resignation and despair than struggling.

            You probably know this, but an alarmingly high percentage of people who commit suicide have seen a medical professional shortly before they take their lives. I can only imagine that those appointments might have gone a lot like mine did (and maybe, like your daughter’s did as well), that you walk out the door without any feeling that the doctor is going to help you. And people are so quick to say, “just go get another doctor” without realizing that there could be financial, insurance, geographic or other obstacles to doing that. They are quick to say it without realizing how much energy is expended in starting a new relationship with a physician, who then might or might not be any better than the previous one.

            I want to say one more thing to you, that I have discovered that the suicide prevention strategies that are showing the most promise right now in terms of research and empirical results are strategies based on the premise that suicidal thinking is about a problem that can be solved by some other way than suicide. There is no one to my knowledge researching suicide prevention for people with medical problems that cannot be solved. I feel that even if your daughter had been able to access suicide prevention resources in her dark hour, some well-meaning person would have been dealing with her based on a paradigm that says there would have been another way to solve her problems, when in fact, maybe her medical problems had no good solutions. I have raised your very astute point to researchers that in this situation, the imperative is to up the pleasure in life, if at all possible, because the physical pain is not going away. No one to my knowledge in the research community is working on suicide prevention from this vantage point. I feel there are probably good people being lost to suicide because the crisis intervention strategies that exist don’t translate well to people with physical, incurable, unrelenting pain. Just my two cents on that topic.

            I am praying for peace for you. I am so sorry for your family that your daughter found herself in a place of hopelessness. When you told me about the list you found I began to cry, remembering how many times I have gone into a doctor’s office with such a list. As I write this I am thinking, “there but for the grace of God…” I know what it’s like to have water poured on the last little embers of hope in a physician’s office. What happens next is tragic either way; living without hope in chronic illness is certainly tragic, but no one is going to say that that tragedy equates with your loss. I’m so very sorry for your whole family that your daughter took her life.

              |  
    4. Nathan

      I know how you feel because I too am disabled and have been hurt, abused, tortured and all by the people who were supposed to be there to protect me and love me! I am in a wheel chair and am also Transgender, FTM, so I have great trouble finding people who see me for me and not as some sort of mutant freak! I too have had Therapists give up on me or hurt me, recently my therapist of two years who I had an Awesome relationship with, had to discharge me, but I don’t hold it against him because he did do everything he could and knew how and he did it in a better way than some. You can’t be replaced and I am not just saying this, you have impacted me just by your comment and I bet you would be an Amazing friend to have. If you would like you could friend me on Facebook or you could email me. My Email is [email protected] and my facebook is Nathan Melvin Perez, but you may have to look it up using my email, not really sure. I don’t usually give out this info, but I feel like we could get along and just talk and maybe become friends, I think you would find that we understand each other Soli. If not totally, to some degree or another. I think people like us are needed for something, sometimes I am really cynical, but I do deep down believe that there is some reason for us existing and knowing such deep pain! I am not the most Religious, since so many tell me God Hates Me, but think about Jesus, he suffered, was mocked and went through a lot, but he is God’s Son, he is our Savior! I think the ones who suffer the most on this Earth, are actually God’s Chosen ones! I don’t believe he does this to us though, but I do believe that people try and break us down because they know just how special we are! They know how important we are to Him! I was drawn to your comment and wanted to reply and I hope you see this because I don’t even know you, but you have touched my life, in a way that not too many can! I am grateful to you and I will remember you and I hope that you will want to friend me or something. Be safe, Peace to you! HUGS, if you like hugs and not in a creepy way either lol. You matter and you can’t be replaced and I seriously mean that with all my heart!

      Reply  |  
      1. Soli

        Nathan,
        It does sound like you have been through a lot, and you’ve also made a real effort to try to understand your suffering. It also sounds like you have a lot of sweetness in your spirit, just waiting to be uncorked and poured out. Thank you for pouring some out on me. Nothing about the chair or your struggles can touch the purity of what you have to offer. I will email you.

        Reply  |  
      2. Jesse

        Helped today by you outing yourself publically in post to someone else, so thanks.

        Reply  |  
    5. Victoria

      Jesus and faith in Him alone is the only answer for every hurt and every person. I have been where you are and it was in learning about and accepting what Jesus did for me that finally gave me peace in a world full of hurting and hurtful people. Only He can carry your pain and comfort you and give you eyes of love with which to see all of the people you’ve named as having hurt you.

      Reply  |  
    6. LuísaBYS

      You may meet that person tomorrow so keep hanging on ;D
      Plus you can talk to me 😀 @LuisaBYS on twitter \ insta \ skype xb

      Reply  |  
      1. Soli

        Thank you so much. I’m not on twitter, instagram, or skype; I must be in the internet dark ages. But I really appreciate your sweet offer.

        Reply  |  
    7. C.

      I think you’re amazing.

      And strong. You sound a lot like how much I’ve researched Norma Jean / Marilyn Monroe

      And with that… You hold this gift of understanding.

      How people shouldn’t be treated.
      The pain of how much it hurts… But to do something with it as well!

      You write exceptionally well.

      You draw a reader in
      Narrow the attention. Strengthen focus

      Please become an author . A play write. Being about something amazing with what you hold. Create! Why? Because you can!

      And it will be beautifully done.

      And make people feel

      And cry with you.

      On this journey.

      And you’ll incorporate hope

      And it will be good.

      Bless the world that doesn’t deserve you
      And you’ll both find healing

      -much love-
      C.

      Reply  |  
      1. Soli

        Thank you so much for your kind thoughts and encouragement. I’ve thought about writing a book, and haven’t done so yet, probably because of the part of me that isn’t sure there is a happy ending. Still, you gave me something to think about. Thank you and bless you for that.

        Reply  |  
  4. Bianca

    you do matter.

    Reply  |  
  5. Vanessa

    In school I’ll write in my arms instead of cutting,
    Tomorrow I’ll be happy.Tomorrow I will restore my hope.
    Tomorrow I’ll fight for me.
    BECAUSE YOU AND ME DESERVE TO BE HAPPY.

    Reply  |  
  6. Denisse Hernandez Vega

    Things may seem horrible but you will never know if they get better if you end your life.If you keep fighting and never give up you’ll be able to see that things will get better.

    Reply  |  
  7. melissa

    i lost a friend in 7th grade he was too young but i saw him loose so much….i have lost another friend whos life was riddled with sadness
    this world needed u Denny u were to young and Lewis you were loved so much u bolth are never forgotten and always in my heart.

    Reply  |  
  8. Regina

    I won’t say ‘I know how you feel’ I’ve always thought that’s a ridiculous statement. How could anyone possibly truly understand another’s feelings? The best we can do is have empathy for a specific situation, or if we’ve been through something similar we can share how we felt.
    I remember feeling like I served no purpose in this life. A while back, my teenagers were spending all their time brooding in their rooms and barely speaking to me, my marriage was strained, I felt like I couldn’t do anything right and I definitely wasn’t going around saving lives so you’re a big one-up there!
    So many things just made me feel hopeless. I could barely get out of bed and leaving the house was a nightmare.
    With my husband’s help I found a new doctor. One that actually treated me like a patient, a person, not a chart number. And not even a counselor, clinical social worker, or therapist. Just a regular primary care physician. And he LISTENED to me.
    Turns out his aunt battled depression, and had committed suicide. So he made a commitment to always be there for me. Almost five years later, he has been. And it’s better. Not perfect, life never will be perfect of course, but it’s so much better and my doctor has been there for me every step of the way.
    I won’t give you platitudes that mean nothing. But I will ask you to please, please don’t give up yet. There IS someone out there who can help; you just need to find the right person.
    And I may not know you but I offer you my friendship and love. You are not replaceable. There is no one in the world exactly like you. Don’t give in; don’t give up on being in love with hope.

    Reply  |  
    1. Soli

      Thank you so much for your kindness. I am so happy that you found someone who would commit to you, and who has kept that commitment. And, you had help finding that person, even better. Someone saw your suffering and reached in to help. Maybe hope is always there but it’s like coal waiting for a match, and yours was ignited when your husband saw you and helped you find a doctor who then committed to you. This is the way life is supposed to work, and I’m glad it happened for you this way.

      Living alone means, essentially, an unwitnessed life. You are like a tree in the middle of the forest: if you go down, chances are that it is unnoticed. Tears roll down your face, but no one sees them. They don’t matter. No one knows whether you are doing your laundry, or weeping, or weeping while trying to do your laundry. The last time around, I had really hoped that counseling would give me some feeling of safety about not being alone with pain (a lot of pain, physical pain and emotional pain), and that I could then translate that to take risks with other relationships. But I was devastated this last time to learn that that kind of honesty wasn’t appreciated, and in fact, was my ticket out the door. It really set me back in ways I didn’t even realize at the time. It took away the little bit of hope I had that I would be able to reconstruct some sense of community in my own life, and it reinforced the bitter truth of my life that I’m just not welcome in this world as a whole package. I admit I am stuck there and I haven’t been able to get unstuck. It’s sort of like the profound version of Lucy and Charlie Brown and the football…the counselor showed me the football, put it on the ground, and told me it was okay to kick…but when I did he moved the football and I landed on the ground, and this time, for whatever reason, I haven’t been able to get up. My resilience is gone.

      The other piece that I feel is hard for some to understand is that all this not giving up and reaching out that people expect you to keep doing is that much harder when physical disability limits your activity in general. And, we’re a cruel culture when it comes to people living with disability. We preach inclusion and compassion, but when it comes to choosing friends, most people want those close to them to be at least as able-bodied as they are. They don’t want to be reminded of their own human frailty. And, we’re objects of ridicule. For instance, if I’m in an airport, I’m usually in a wheelchair, and people look past you and if they do look at you, it’s often with scorn and ridicule — or worse, pity. It’s like they wish you would go ahead and die to make their airport experience less crowded. Any time I have to move more slowly — which is often — I experience stress from others who wish that I would hurry up.

      So I don’t know how my situation is going to play out. I am struggling. I’ve been struggling for a long time, and I am weary of it.

      Thank you again for the kindness of your reply. I greatly appreciate it.

      Reply  |  
  9. Amanda Rutherford

    Hi, my name is Amanda Rutherford. I am 24 years old.
    I have been fighting depression and suicidal thoughts for most of my teen and adult life. I am one of the few that has gotten help and even still I fight with the “bad thoughts” as my mom calls them every day. I know that I cannot be replaced because, for one I am my dad’s only daughter. I have 3 grandsons who are truly amazing. Yes you are reading this right. I am engaged to a beautiful 43 year old woman who soon will be my wife. She has 2 awesome daughters and 3 amazing grandsons. So I have 2 awesome daughters and 3 amazing grandsons who have adopted me as their step-mom and grandma. I have lost a lot of people to suicide. I know the pain and sorrow that follows it and I do not want to become just another tally mark on the statistic chart.
    I try to speak out against suicide and depression every chance I get. I am always there for anyone in need. I do not want to see someone else go through what I have gone through.
    The main message I want to send out is…
    DON’T BECOME A STATISTIC. GET HELP AND TALK.

    Reply  |  
  10. J

    H

    Reply  |  
  11. john

    I met this spell through a friends description and he told me that he help him to get his wife back when another man took her from him and then i decided to try him out and i discover that he is the best and he is very powerful and just yesterday my wife whom i thought will never come back to me came and said to me that she was sorry for leaving me. i am now so happy that my desire have been fulfilled. thank to the Dr.IDISI of the [email protected] he is so powerful.

    Reply  |  
  12. Joe Quinn

    thanks for your efforts. I lost my once upon a time fiance Alexandra three years ago to suicide, and its very difficult to b a survivor.

    Reply  |  
Get Email Updates

Sign up for our newsletter to hear updates from our team and how you can help share the message of hope and help.