ST. PETERSBURG — There are many ways to describe Vance Sanders. 

“An amazing swimmer," said his mother, Jody Sanders. “Aside from swimming, he was amazing academically, he was a really smart kid, and he had a heart of gold.” 

A fierce competitor in both fly and backstroke Vance was a nationally-ranked swimmer. 

“He was a great competitor, a great sportsman,” Sanders said.  

He was a sophomore at East Lake High School on the path to a full-ride college scholarship. 

Vance had a bright future ahead, but he was also hurting. 

"He was highly motivated by his peers, social acceptance was a huge thing,” Sanders said. 

Which made it difficult when Vance was bullied by those he considered friends. 

"He was having issues with his peers at the pool,” Sanders explained. “He actually quit swimming, so that’s a huge red flag when someone at his level all of a sudden quits his sport of choice.” 

The same day Vance quit the sport he loved, he took his own life. 

"I go through the whole day in my head and it’s not easy,” Sanders said. 

Jody Sanders has taken her grief and turned it into action — creating a nonprofit called Vance Lives. 

Her mission is to increase awareness for suicide prevention among our youth. 

"It’s all I think about because it hurts so bad, when another parent loses their child, this should not happen to another parent,” she said. "This should not happen to another sister, or brother, grandparent, it is so devastating.” 

In the past five years, four Pinellas County swimmers have committed suicide. 

"I suffer every time I hear of another death, I go through the same emotions, and it’s really hard,” Sanders said. “But I’m here for a reason, and that is to sit here — right here, and to tell every child to live and not die.” 

That’s why Sanders has organized multiple fundraisers including the Laps for Life Swim-a-thon. 

"This is not abnormal, student-athlete suicide — there’s a lot of kids who strive to be the best,” she explained. "They have this person that they’re supposed to be and when things don’t go right, they don’t have a plan b.” 

The funds go to mental health counseling for at-risk teens, but these events also open an important conversation. 

"In hindsight, and what I like to tell people is that, communication is the key,” she said. "You have to talk about it, talking to your children and actually having a plan of action.” 

Her message is one of hope — one that helps teens deal with failure and rejection. 

"There is nothing, there is nothing that is so bad or wrong in your life that should warrant you to take it,” Sanders said. 

A conversation Sanders wishes she could have had with her own son. 

"If he had told me an inkling about this…I would’ve been so incredibly impassioned to tell him that he needs to live and not die, and that’s exactly what I am now, I’m impassioned to tell every single child that they need to stay, there’s another way.”