Walk against suicide attracts more than 400 participants

PARKERSBURG - For its second year, the Mid-Ohio Valley Out of the Darkness community walk attracted more than double the number of people Saturday at City Park than participated last year.

Dr. Libby Powers organized the first Out of the Darkness Walk in 2008 after her family suffered a loss when her sister, Dr. Rebecca Ann Hitter, a Florida veterinarian, took her own life in 2007. Powers said her sister never discussed her illness with her family and was reluctant to seek treatment.

Powers said 50 percent of the money raised in Saturday's walk will stay in the area. With the money raised last year, Powers said she delivered one-hour lectures to two physician groups, students at West Virginia University at Parkersburg and community groups using materials from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

In 2008, the walk had 200 walkers who raised $18,000 for mental health research. Powers said there were 426 walkers participating in the 2009 edition, far surpassing the goal of 250. Her monetary goal for Saturday's event was $20,000.

After the walk Powers said the estimated donations were more than $8,900, which did not include corporate sponsorship donations. Donations and corporate sponsorships will be accepted through December, she said. Anyone wishing to donate may visit the Web site at www.outofthedarkness.org, and click on the Mid-Ohio Valley Walk, or contact her office at 304-865-7700.

Powers said the National Institutes of Health budget has only $39 million allocated for research for mental health, compared to $1 billion for diabetes and $5 billion for cancer.

"We want to make more people aware of the need for more mental health research and funding like there is for other diseases," she said, adding that in major cities relays similar to the American Cancer Society Relay for Life have been organized to raise funds and awareness about the issue.

Following Saturday's Walk, Powers urged participants to work to change the public's perception of suicide.

"We need to eliminate the current misuse that someone committed suicide," she said. "They did not commit anything, a term that has been used. Clearly they have done what they did out of mental illness, they did not commit anything."

About 20 participants at Saturday's walk were there to remember the 2007 suicide of a family member.

Nancy Russell said they were walking in memory of her son, Will, of Marietta, as Will's People.

"We're doing this to keep his memory alive and to show we loved him," she said. "We had 20 this year up from four last year."

Russell said the family was in the walk as a way to help heal from the tragedy.

"We doing this so we can heal and so we can help others," she said.

Two speakers were part of Saturday's program. One was the Rev. Dr. Gary E. Nelson, pastor of the Sand Hill United Methodist Church in Boaz, and Doug Merrill, a high school baseball coach who is now president of the Powerup Foundation created to provide financial assistance to communities with programs to promote better physical fitness and mental health.

Nelson, who has been a pastor for 30 years, is also a pastoral counselor who worked with a non-denominational counseling center near Washington, D.C., for 16 years before he came to Sand Hill. He is also the author of "A Relentless Hope," a book that draws on his family's experience with his son's attempted suicide when he was in his teens and Nelson's clinical experience with teens and suicide.

Nelson said depression and suicide are the biggest killers of teens in the United States.

"Statistics show automobile accidents are the No. 1 killer of teens in the country," he said. "But when you consider how many are from drug and alcohol use, which is used by some to self-medicate for depression, that makes depression one of the top causes of death among teens."

Nelson said one in five teens suffer from clinical depression and two million teens attempt suicide every year. He speaks for no fee on teen depression for schools, churches and other groups. He said he has spoken to students at St. Marys High School, Parkersburg South High School, Williamstown High School and Parkersburg High School.

Nelson said the youth group at Sand Hill is featured in a video "Teens Surviving the Storm" which he said is the most viewed video on teen suicide on YouTube and Tangle, which used to be called GodTube.

Merrill wrote "Fighting the Demon of Suicide" after facing eight suicides of people in his life. He wrote the book to be an education tool for those who work with American youth, hope for parents and inspiring for all who read it, he said.

Merrill established the Powerup Foundation earlier this year and is preparing to begin a six-month run from Boston to Key West, Fla., in October to spread the news about the connection between physical and mental health.

"I have lost eight people in my life to suicide," he said. "One was a former girlfriend, three were former players, two were students, one was my best friend and one was a family friend."

Merrill said his foundation wants to show the connection between better physical health and mental health.