There is HOPE

I’ve taken the plunge and I’ll be lacing up my fancy new running shoes to run, walk or crawl through the Dublin half marathon. I am not a runner but I do hope to run the whole way. I am running to support Pieta House. I chose Pieta House after needing their support when I lost my mam in 2022 to suicide.

The woman in the picture is my mam. Linda Hand. She died by suicide in March 2022. She suffered silently and without the knowledge of any of her family members. But this does not define my mam. In fact it is the least interesting thing about her. She was an amazing woman, wife, mam, sister, friend and her favourite title: Granny. Always thinking about others and always on the move. She was so intelligent and seemed to know everything. There was very little I could tell her in which she didn’t already know. Google became our enemy as it just proved how right she was all the time! She supported me and my brother and sister through everything we did in life. Always on the sidelines shouting for my brother playing football, always at whichever activity I was doing that week, and she actually couldn’t shake my sister from her side since birth so was always with her too! Her and dad were two peas in a pod. Always planning the next thing. She was always there, and then suddenly she wasn’t. And our lives came crashing down. The shock of her death hit our mind, body and soul. A feeling I wouldn’t wish on anybody. And a club none of us wanted to be part of.

Mental health is still such a taboo subject in Ireland. And much of it I actually don’t understand myself. I really want to raise awareness of just how common suicide is and how many people it affects every. single. day. Anyone can experience mental health issues. Nobody is immune. It can sometimes be too much to talk to people close to you but Pieta House offers great services for those people who are in suicidal distress and families bereaved by suicide.