Ray Keane Suicide Prevention Fund
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Hello all,
To those of you who did not know already, a tragic accident occurred and Raymond F. Keane ended up taking his own life on the night of March 10th, 2018.
To those of you who never met Ray, he was a fourth year Quinlan School of Business student at Loyola University Chicago from Orland Park, a Chicago Suburb. Leading up to college, he wrestled and played baseball at St. Rita High School, one of the top Catholic all-boys high schools in the midwest area. To those of you who did know Ray, you probably know him for his campus-wide reputation of being incredibly dependable, generous, caring and kind. Ray would routinely go out of his way to make others happy and was truly a friend you could depend on for anything.
Everything seemed fine with Ray until Saturday night, when I received a call from his mother. She asked me if had noticed anything weird about Ray over the past few weeks, I said no not at all, and then quickly informed me that he was in the hospital and tried to kill himself that night, before quickly hanging up the phone. I stood there in disbelief. I immediately called my roommates and we talked, and we were all in disbelief. We couldn't believe what we were hearing. Ray Keane, the most genuine, caring, family-oriented kid, and one of our best friends, had tried to kill himself. The doctors ran tests on him for two days following the incident to see any hint of brain activity, but Ray didn't make it and was officially pronounced dead Monday, March 14th, 2018.
While this is extremely unfortunate and unexpected, it makes us realize how fragile life is and how easily something as tragic as this can happen at any time. The fact that we would sit on the couch and hang out with Ray every single day, go out with him on weekends, and think that he was sitting there thinking about committing suicide this whole time is just mind-boggling. We were in disbelief because Ray showed absolutely no signs of depression- in fact, he showed quite the opposite. This is scary because if someone who appeared as happy as Ray was thinking about hurting himself or herself, absolutely anyone could be thinking the same thing and we'd have no idea.
That being said, we want to prevent this from happening in the future, and want to raise awareness as much as we possibly can. In light of that, we will donate half of what is raised to an event hosted here in the suburbs of Chicago, the Southern Illinois "Out of the Darkness" Campus Walk hosted by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (Fact: Suicide is currently the second most common cause of death among college students aged 25-34 and third leading cause of death of 15-24-year-olds, according to the American College Health Association) Suicide SHOULD NOT be the second most common cause of death among college students, and we need to step up and do something to articulate that. We believe that by donating to a local suicide prevention event in the same area that Ray was raised, we will see our money used towards a specific goal- instead of donating directly to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP).
In addition to making an effort to prevent suicides on college campuses like this from occurring in the future, it is our obligation as friends and people to help the Keane family during this rough time. My fraternity brothers and I plan on compiling all of our pictures of Ray and making a quality scrapbook with inscriptions from each of us throughout, describing what Ray was doing in each picture. This way, the Keane family can get a glimpse of Ray's life in Chicago while having something to look at for years to come. In addition to that, we plan on having a Mural painted by a professional of the picture displayed at the top of this post for the Keane family to put up in their house. The rest of the money we raise will go directly to the Keane family for them to use in any way they see fit.
While we may have lost a soldier this month, a soldier that will live on through us forever, we must remember the type of guy Ray was. Now that he's gone, it's our duty to carry on not only his love for the Blackhawks and Chipotle, but the sense of selflessness, authenticity, and generosity he was known for. In addition to that, we should be focusing on the positive memories we have with Ray, not the fact that he's gone. Times like this are tough but we all must remember one thing: "Lives are like poems. Some are long, some are short, but they're all beautiful."
Thank you all for reading and let's reach this goal together. Donations of any size are welcomed and greatly appreciated. Let's help the Keane family during this tough time and help fight suicide in college environments!! WE LOVE YOU RAY!! REST IN PEACE, BROTHER.
To those of you who did not know already, a tragic accident occurred and Raymond F. Keane ended up taking his own life on the night of March 10th, 2018.
To those of you who never met Ray, he was a fourth year Quinlan School of Business student at Loyola University Chicago from Orland Park, a Chicago Suburb. Leading up to college, he wrestled and played baseball at St. Rita High School, one of the top Catholic all-boys high schools in the midwest area. To those of you who did know Ray, you probably know him for his campus-wide reputation of being incredibly dependable, generous, caring and kind. Ray would routinely go out of his way to make others happy and was truly a friend you could depend on for anything.
Everything seemed fine with Ray until Saturday night, when I received a call from his mother. She asked me if had noticed anything weird about Ray over the past few weeks, I said no not at all, and then quickly informed me that he was in the hospital and tried to kill himself that night, before quickly hanging up the phone. I stood there in disbelief. I immediately called my roommates and we talked, and we were all in disbelief. We couldn't believe what we were hearing. Ray Keane, the most genuine, caring, family-oriented kid, and one of our best friends, had tried to kill himself. The doctors ran tests on him for two days following the incident to see any hint of brain activity, but Ray didn't make it and was officially pronounced dead Monday, March 14th, 2018.
While this is extremely unfortunate and unexpected, it makes us realize how fragile life is and how easily something as tragic as this can happen at any time. The fact that we would sit on the couch and hang out with Ray every single day, go out with him on weekends, and think that he was sitting there thinking about committing suicide this whole time is just mind-boggling. We were in disbelief because Ray showed absolutely no signs of depression- in fact, he showed quite the opposite. This is scary because if someone who appeared as happy as Ray was thinking about hurting himself or herself, absolutely anyone could be thinking the same thing and we'd have no idea.
That being said, we want to prevent this from happening in the future, and want to raise awareness as much as we possibly can. In light of that, we will donate half of what is raised to an event hosted here in the suburbs of Chicago, the Southern Illinois "Out of the Darkness" Campus Walk hosted by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (Fact: Suicide is currently the second most common cause of death among college students aged 25-34 and third leading cause of death of 15-24-year-olds, according to the American College Health Association) Suicide SHOULD NOT be the second most common cause of death among college students, and we need to step up and do something to articulate that. We believe that by donating to a local suicide prevention event in the same area that Ray was raised, we will see our money used towards a specific goal- instead of donating directly to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP).
In addition to making an effort to prevent suicides on college campuses like this from occurring in the future, it is our obligation as friends and people to help the Keane family during this rough time. My fraternity brothers and I plan on compiling all of our pictures of Ray and making a quality scrapbook with inscriptions from each of us throughout, describing what Ray was doing in each picture. This way, the Keane family can get a glimpse of Ray's life in Chicago while having something to look at for years to come. In addition to that, we plan on having a Mural painted by a professional of the picture displayed at the top of this post for the Keane family to put up in their house. The rest of the money we raise will go directly to the Keane family for them to use in any way they see fit.
While we may have lost a soldier this month, a soldier that will live on through us forever, we must remember the type of guy Ray was. Now that he's gone, it's our duty to carry on not only his love for the Blackhawks and Chipotle, but the sense of selflessness, authenticity, and generosity he was known for. In addition to that, we should be focusing on the positive memories we have with Ray, not the fact that he's gone. Times like this are tough but we all must remember one thing: "Lives are like poems. Some are long, some are short, but they're all beautiful."
Thank you all for reading and let's reach this goal together. Donations of any size are welcomed and greatly appreciated. Let's help the Keane family during this tough time and help fight suicide in college environments!! WE LOVE YOU RAY!! REST IN PEACE, BROTHER.
Organizer
Chase Williams
Organizer
Chicago, IL
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