September is National Suicide Prevention Month and Sept. 10, is recognized as World Suicide Prevention Day. This day aims to raise awareness that suicide is preventable, improve education about suicide, and spread education about awareness. It’s the third leading cause of death among people. In these cases the friends, families, and individuals affected by suicide are left in the dark and feeling shame or guilt that prevents them from talking openly.
Our small town of Clinton, Illinois, was shocked in September of 2014 when a young teen committed suicide. Evan was a son, brother, friend, and cousin to many, but he was more than just that. He was an athlete, the class clown who made everybody laugh; he was everybody’s friend. He was the life of the party. People say it’s the ones you least expect and that’s why it hits us so hard when they’re gone. They leave us with many questions unanswered.
Since his passing a year ago, our small community of just about eight thousand has rallied together to keep his memories and name alive in numerous ways. One being an Evanstrong Memorial WOD held at Crossfit Influence where participants would do many physical activities and sweat the pounds off. Evan’s cousin arranged all this and many people in the community came out for it. People ranging from infants to their 50s, people who have never worked out a day in their life, to people who go to Crossfit on a daily basis joined in for this Evanstrong Memorial. It just goes to show you that we all support each other in a time of need.
Evanstrong is a campaign that takes Evan’s story and helps to promote suicide prevention. Evan’s family and friends contribute to the surrounding communities to help spread awareness.
Grief doesn’t just stop and no one should have to live through it alone. It takes a whole community. With Evan’s death it gave our community a whole new perspective on life. No one is guaranteed a tomorrow so live for today.
We live with the memories we have left. The wonderful times where we can still hear their laugh and still see their smile when we close our eyes. We go through our pictures and by looking at one snapshot we can tell a whole story based on an entire night.
Those are the good memories and the bad times are the dates. The day of the anniversary of the passing or the date of the burial and you have to find strength in your support system to get up in the morning. It’s all about strength in numbers and your support system.
When I got the news about Evan, I was at my college football game cheering on the Eastern Panthers. I had known Evan since he was a kid. I wasn’t that close of a friend of his considering he was three years younger than me but I still knew his type of personality. The funny guy. The one who was always smiling. So when I received the news, I didn’t believe it. Until the next day when it became real and everyone was posting things on his wall in his memory. My high school was kind enough to let any student who wanted to grieve or just be with their friends, come to the gymnasium on a weekend when it was supposed to be closed. The school understood their students’ needs. Once again the community came together. They had the funeral in the high school gym, and it’s a good thing they did because no funeral home would have been remotely big enough for the turnout that Evan had. Too many people loved him. Our community rallied together to help a family in distress at a low point in their time and now, a year later, nothing has changed. People are still there. People are still Evanstrong. People will not back down on losing memories of him. My best friend is doing a dance workshop at her University and half of the proceeds go to Evanstrong for suicide awareness. We come together.
Evan’s family is the strongest group of individuals I’ve ever known personally. They know that every day matters and they’re ready to share that with the rest of you. So pass along #Evanstrong!
