NOTE: If you’re thinking about suicide, are worried about a friend or loved one or would like emotional support, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling or texting 988.
As a dad, husband and son, Brad Howard said it was traumatizing to tell everyone in his family that his son, Jay, had died by suicide, which felt like delivering “a sucker punch.” The response was touching: People brought more food than they needed, showed emotional support and talked about their own losses.
“Suicide is like a club that no one wants to be in,” he said “[People] want to help because, sadly, they can imagine it for themselves.”
Brad and his wife, deep in their grief, were consumed by the question of why it happened.
“In the end, we just felt like it was unanswerable, you know? And that’s the pain behind it, you know? That’s the pain if you could, he could have just made a call to us, and, you know, we would have done anything to help him. But you just can’t get past the why. You may think you answer it, but then there’s another why, and it’s just a terrible maze to be in,” he said.