A total of 187 walkers and volunteers raised more than $16,000 to educate the public about suicide during the second annual Out of the Darkness suicide awareness 5K community walk in Flower Mound on Saturday morning, Nov. 1.     

    The event, which began and ended at the Parker Square Gazebo, was sponsored by Touched by Suicide, a suicide support group in Flower Mound. Many of the walkers had lost friends or family members to suicide, and they remembered their loved ones with t-shirts or buttons featuring names and photos. One participant was Robin Cole, a former Lewisville resident who recently moved to Mesquite. Wearing a “Daddy’s Girl” t-shirt, she walked the route with her dog, Bailey, in memory of her father, Robert Patterson, who died last year. Since May, Cole has attended every meeting of Touched by Suicide. “I don’t feel alone,” she said. “I’m in a room with people who understand even if I don’t say a word. It has helped me tremendously.”     

    A group of 12 people walked with Peggy Smith Morgan of Fort Worth, who, since 1972, has lost six family members, including her father and four brothers, to suicide. Her most recent loss was son Victor Smith, who died this year, just one day before his 28th birthday. “He was in a crisis, and he didn’t think he could get through that crisis,” Morgan said. “I nearly didn’t make it this time.” As part of her personal healing, Morgan is taking online courses in order to educate others about what she described as “the forever decision.”     

    Touched by Suicide was founded by Sue Endsley, a Flower Mound resident who lost her youngest son to suicide in 2000.  She tells new members about Ryan, a popular but slightly insecure youth who was doing well in his freshman year at college. Two weeks before his death, he was talking about his plans for Christmas vacation and his soon-to-be-born nephew, neither of which he lived to see. One evening, Ryan left his Ohio college campus and drove four hours to Niagara Falls. He climbed over a safety railing and jumped. He went over the falls and died instantly.

    Endsley has received some closure as a result of forming the group and helping others who have experienced the same shocking loss. “We’re people in the same club; a club we never wanted to be in,” she said. “But at least, we have each other.”     

    The 2008 fund-raising walk was chaired by Endsley and Kathy Kettenbeil of Double Oak. Sponsors of the 2008 walk included Medical Center of Lewisville, First Choice Emergency Room, Joints in Motion, Applebee’s restaurant, Great Harvest Bread, Sprouts, B-Bop Balloons & Beyond, Laurent Pelletier with DFW White Dove Release, Phillip Bleggi with New Kind of DJ, and Sysco Foods. Walt Mayfield and Bob Kelly of the Denton County Amateur Radio Association assisted, and Lewisville Boy Scout Troop 62 and Flower Mound Troop 451 helped with walk-day logistics.  Half of the money raised will go to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), a national suicide awareness and education organization that coordinates and supports the OOTD Community Walks. The remainder will be available to Touched by Suicide for educational materials and literature. The support group meets from 7 to 9 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursday of each month at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 5500 Morriss.  Participants include parents, relatives and close friends of people who have died by their own hand. There is no charge to attend, and all are welcome.

Special to The News Connection.