We would like to thank our family, friends, and the community for the overwhelming love and support given to us in dealing with the loss of God’s most precious gift, our beloved son, Kenny. The death of a child is a parent’s worst fear and the worst kind of pain imaginable.
Kenny was 15 years old when he was diagnosed in March, 2006, with anxiety and depression. One out of five people in the United States suffers from mental illness and four out of five are touched in some way, whether it is they themselves or a loved one who has it. And yet, mental illness is difficult to talk about openly in society because of the stigma that is often attached.
That stigma comes from ignorance of the issues surrounding mental illness. It would be helpful if more people were willing to talk about mental illness, because if you don’t suffer from it, you cannot comprehend the kind of mental and physical pain you can feel.
There were times when Kenny was in such physical pain that sounds of pain came out of him, like someone actually was kicking him in the gut. So many of us loosely say I’m so depressed today, but we say it without any comprehension of what that truly means. Over the last three years, we literally tried everything available, everything we had access to, in an effort to help our son.
We stumped a dozen or more psychiatrists, but nobody could come up with a solution for Kenny. We think that in his mind, he felt there was no solution to help his pain, and he finally got to the point where he couldn’t take it anymore. The fact that he knew that we loved him, his sister loved him, his girlfriend loved him, is why he stayed alive with his pain for as long as he did.
As for why he did this, there is no way to answer why. There was no reason for this, other than that he felt so overwhelmingly sad, he was tired of living in pain, and needed to put an end to it. Through all of our efforts and the treatment he did receive, we were able to have more time with our son, and we will always be grateful for that.
We will always cherish the all-too-short time we had with him. Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. God bless.
Kurtis and Tricia Baker
For information on the NAMI 5K Walk on May 30, see the Suburban Mom column, page 5.
