The Real Walk To Remember

On a Friday afternoon in June, my entire life changed. 19 years had not prepared me for the weeks and months and years ahead of anger, guilt, sadness, confusion and heartbreak. My mother- the woman who played both mom and dad, who was my number one fan and my best friend, had taken her own life.

Nobody prepares you for the loss of a parent at a young age, and nobody gives you a handbook on how to deal with the aftermath of a suicide. In fact, I found that word spread so fast in my small Connecticut town that by that evening, despite being surrounded by friends and family from everywhere, I was being tiptoed around. I quickly inherited the title of "the girl whose mother killed herself". Suicide is a taboo subject- an issue that touches many but is hidden by most. After countless hours of research and many heartfelt discussions with other survivors, I'd decided I'd had enough of hiding. I was going to change this stigma.

My mother was strong, beautiful, incredibly smart and a woman with a huge heart. The way she died shouldn't just define her 44 years on this earth, and I refused to pretend like she never existed. As my pastor said in her eulogy, "her demons may have won this battle", but they weren't going to win the war. I began to fight for the cause, and almost 3 years later, I am now living in South Orange and an advocate for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. I've put on 2 successful events for awareness, and raised thousands of dollars in her name. I was even asked onto the Steve Wilkos Show to discuss bullying, suicide, and mental illness. I will be fighting for this for the rest of my life, and I am working so that no one else has to go through what my family and I went through that Friday afternoon.

In June, just 10 days before the 3 year anniversary of her passing, my boyfriend and I will be traveling to Washington, DC for our first Out of the Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk. We will be walking 18 miles from dusk until dawn with thousands of other survivors to raise funds, awareness, and hope for the day that comes when we won't be mourning the loss of a loved one, but celebrating the lives of those who chose to stay. 

To donate to our personal fundraising pages, please visit the following links. Thank you for honoring the memory of those who lost their fights. 

Robert Granzen's Page: http://theovernight.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.parti...

Hannah Benoit's Page: http://theovernight.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.parti...