Atlantic Highlands Sisters Use Their Dad's Suicide To Help Others

ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ — It was the end of her sophomore year at Rutgers, right around final exams time, when Artemis Mazzini got the phone call.

"I needed to come home to Atlantic Highlands right away, something had happened," she recalled. "I texted my younger sister, Sophia, she was still in high school at the time. I had no idea what was going on and I kept asking her, 'What happened? Why do we have to come home?"

The girl's father, Phil Mazzini, had committed suicide. He had battled depression for years. Artemis remembered her Dad being briefly hospitalized for it when she was five years old. Outside the family, few knew of Phil's life-long struggle. He was successful, dedicated to his family and popular with his colleagues.

The grief was unfathomable. But the stigma around suicide is what really stung.

"People were saying my dad had a heart attack and died in the woods. That was the rumor going around," she said. "It really bothered me. Why are we lying about this? Here is my dad, a man who actually used to commute to his job in Kansas just so we could live where we lived and have a nice house. A man who gave everything for his family. And we are lying about how he died?"

And so the Mazzini sisters decided to do something brave: They decided to speak publicly about their father's suicide.

"A lot of people would be ashamed. But to me, what he had was an illness. Why are we going to lie about this illness that's real, just as real as any other illness?," she asked.

The sisters also decided to organize a 5K run/walk, which will be held Sept. 23 on the Rutgers-New Brunswick Cook campus. While it's totally free to participate, you are asked to make a donation to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The event, which is being called “Into the Light," is about more than just suicide; it's about shedding light on all mental illness and struggles.

"For example, I have anxiety," said Artemis. "As soon as we started organizing this, so many people came up to us and said, 'I've been struggling, too.' We had no idea how many people are out there and are struggling every day with mental pain."

The sisters are organizing a speaker and so far have gathered a lot of support from the Rutgers community, particularly the Greek system, which both girls are a part of.

Sophia, now a sophomore at Rutgers herself, recalled sitting in class one day where a fellow student called killing yourself “the most self-centered thing you could do."

The Mazzini sisters see it differently.

"A therapist I know told me my Dad lived with a 100-degree fever his whole life. Then one day it became 103 degrees. Then, on the day he killed himself, he woke up that morning and it was 105. And his body couldn't take it anymore," said Artemis. "I try to understand it like an illness just like anything else."

The sisters hope to eventually establish a scholarship in Phil’s name at Rutgers -New Brunswick and to start a new foundation that will assist people with mental illness and their families.

And as word gets out about the walk, Artemis said she's been contacted by people, sometimes strangers, who confide: Someone I loved killed themselves, too.

"I think everything is meant to be in this world," she said. "This walk is supposed to shed light and get rid of the stigma. We've already had so many people come forward and talk about it."

Anyone wishing to participate into the Into the Light five-kilometer run/walk can sign up at https://afsp.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.event&eventID=4911