Shae lost her brother Kris to suicide in 2016 and will attend the Walk For Awareness for the first time this year. The event has reunited her with a friend after 18 years. This is Shae’s story…
My old school friend Sammy, who lost her brother and husband to suicide, reached out to me to go on this walk with her.
We haven’t seen each other for 18 years and have been brought together with our shared experience.
My brother Kris aged 31 died in March 2016 from suicide.
I’ve not done the walk or even known about the group until my friend suggested I come along.
I’m raising money for my walk because I want suicide and mental illness to be something that is OK, and normal, to be talked about.
I feel a lot of understanding with mental illness, with having a failed suicide attempt when I was 13 and later being diagnosed with a mental illness. Having the view of both sides. I can identify that grief and depression have huge similarities.
I love my brother and embrace his choices but I feel that if we can get to a point where talking about how we feel no matter how not understandable and crazy it may sound to the people around us…then people won’t feel like there is nowhere to go and no way to be understood.
Several participants have shared their story ahead of the 2018 Walk For Awareness. Read Sammy’s Story here>>>
