M grandpa lived with depression for 20 years before dying by suicide in 2014. I was ten years old when he passed and I learned the cause of his death when I was thirteen. He was the happiest person I knew, always making jokes and doing the things that he loved, which made me confused and angry with my PaPa and wonder why my family wasn’t enough for him to stay for. I had no idea what he was going through behind his smile, but I have since learned that depression is an illness, and suicide is the final symptom. I have turned my pain into purpose to end the silence surrounding suicide.
