Participants hope to share support at suicide prevention walk

Suffering from a severe bout of depression that gave way to suicidal thoughts, Betty Klest checked into a hospital three years ago devoid of hope.

That hospital stay changed her life. After years of suffering and an attempt to take her own life as a juvenile, Klest, now 38, says that because she got the care she needed, she feels better and has learned better coping skills.

She's also grateful to her husband Dan, who summoned the courage to have her hospitalized when she clearly needed it.

"There is a sense of hopelessness, and the person who is feeling suicidal with hopelessness doesn't necessarily have the strength to reach out," Klest said, "and sometimes people from the outside need to reach in, and they shouldn't be afraid to do that."

Tonight, Klest will be among those who gather outside Soldier Field in Chicago for the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention's Out of the Darkness Overnight Walk. Organizers hopes to raise more than $1 million.

Some will walk to honor a loved one. Mount Prospect's Amanda Marchialette participated in 2005 for her younger brother, James, who took his life in 1995 while in high school. She took comfort in being surrounded by others feeling similar emotions.

"The thing I learned the most is that there are good people, popular people, charismatic people, people who are loved have died by suicide," she said.

Locally, the issue has been in the spotlight, with high schools conducting community forums on suicide prevention this month. Four Barrington High School students have taken their lives in the last two years. St. Charles Unit District 303 began hosting forums as their community has dealt with six student suicides in seven years.

These forums help focus on the growing public health problem, said Robert Gebbia, the foundation's executive director. He said about 90 percent of those who take their lives suffer from an underlying problem like drug and alcohol abuse or an anxiety disorder.

"We would like the public to understand that suicide is complicated, and it's not the person's fault," he said. "We want to really end the stigma and discrimination to those who have mental illness feel."

For Klest, a mother of two, postpartum depression was a trigger. She's talked to her and her 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son about why she needs to take her medicine and how depression affects her. But at their tender age, Klest feels it's not the right time to talk about suicide.

The event, featuring an 18K walk, starts tonight and finishes Sunday morning.

For Klest, holding the walk overnight is "really the perfect analogy for me. When I kept it in the dark and hidden it had great power over me. When I let it out to the light of day, it didn't have the same power."

Go to theovernight.org for more information.