Suicide Hero

Monday, June 30, 2008

Bonnie McClelland started the Suncoast Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Organization.

It's one of the leading causes of death of teenagers, yet there's still a stigma attached to talking about suicide.

Bonnie McClelland, who lost her son to suicide, is working to break down those barriers and educate families, so they don't suffer the way she has.

As she read a poem to a group at the First Lutheran Church in Clearwater, emotions overwhelmed Bonnie.

The poem is about love and life. The message is a personal one.

"When I opened that door, my life was deleted in a nanosecond," Bonnie said.

Bonnie's 17-year-old son, Tim, committed suicide six years ago.

In the note he left, was a message she took to heart.

"It said 'Learn from this and help each other,' so that's the only job I have left as a mom," she said.

McClelland did just that and started the Suncoast Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Organization.

She goes around the Bay area, educating groups of all ages about suicide, hoping to spare other families from the same tragedy.

Tim's best friend, Sebastian Uranczyk, says Bonnie's Yellow Ribbon Organization has helped keep some of his other friends from taking that ultimate step.

"I've taken friends to her who are suicidal," Uranczyk said. "They just break down crying. I either won't let them stay alone for the night or take them to Bonnie's and she'd talk to them, and they're all still alive -- they're doing better and come back and thanked me and her."

Other mothers dealing with suicide, such as Marlene Jehs, are thankful as well. The chapter director says Bonnie has been a shoulder to lean on since her son committed killed himself in 2005.

She says Bonnie has also provided her an outlet for her pain and may just stop the pain for more hurting teenagers out there.

"That grief energy needs to go somewhere, and we don't want this to happen to anybody else," Jehs said.