Tomorrow morning, I will be joining hundreds of others for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) Out of the Darkness community walk.
It’s a short walk — only six miles (nothing like the 20 mile overnight dusk-till-dawn walk I did last year (see the video on my blog – link below).
Those of you who know me well understand that this cause is near to my heart, as I lost my mother to suicide when I was 21 (she was only 48). I also lost two childhood friends (brothers) to suicide, and just this past spring, my son tragically lost a high-school colleague as well.
There is still time to donate! I am asking all of my friends and colleagues to support this cause. To do so, please go to: http://tinyurl.com/5h4nzb
You can also read my full blog post about this and take a peak at the AFSP video.
Life: Version 2.0 
Hi,
I’m Dori Radtke, Walk Chair for this year’s Out of the Darkness Community Walk. As I was researching any news articles from our walk this past weekend, I came across your site.
I just wanted to say thank you for attending, our turn out was fabulous and we ended the day making well over $58,000.00!! AMAZING!
I too am a suicide survivor and I’m sorry you are too. It’s a hard pain to know, nothing like I’ve ever known in my life. I lost my Great Grandfather in the 1930’s, my Grandmother when I was 10 years old and in 2004, I lost my only sibling, my beautiful big Brother Randy … all sadly to suicide. They all struggled with mental illness (manic depression/bipolar & anxiety/panic) as I do … with organizations like The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention we can come together to raise awareness.
I have to share with you a bit of an email from a woman who randomly saw our walk as she was biking around Portland.
Hi – I was riding my bike along the river front today in Portland, and saw a community walk coming at me. I pulled aside to show some respect, then saw the signs and banners. Whoa! I wasn’t prepared to be remembering my friend Kelly who killed himself. As I was crying on the sideline, I was feeling better releasing some of my emotions when it struck me how many people in tiny Portland were affected by suicide. Overwhelming and heart breaking.
I thought that was so beautiful & so touching, I just wanted to share.
Please do keep in touch if you’d like … I plan to Chair the walk again next year and we’d love for you to be a part of our committee if you’d like.
Peace,
Dori Radtke
Suicide takes a life every 16 minutes
Hi Dori –
Thank you for sharing this. I would love to be more involved with the community walks. I will connect with you directly.