KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two Kansas City area women who have felt the grief of suicide will be in Washington D.C. Wednesday, Feb. 8, to talk to lawmakers about depression and suicide prevention.
Barb Nelson from Lenexa, Kan., and Vicki Williams from Kansas City, Mo., now represent the Kansas City chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Eight years ago, Nelson’s two sons took their lives within six months of each other. Nelson says classmates saw her son Jason’s depression, but she and his four brothers didn’t realize the extent of it. He was 16 years old when he died.
Six months later his older brother Justin, 18, increasingly depressed about his brother, took his life.
“I was numb,” Nelson said. “And you deny it.”
Nelson will represent the Kansas City chapter along with Vicki Williams, who lost her son-in-law Todd to the disease of depression that led to his suicide.
“I heard it said that we knew that they were depressed, but we didn’t know that could kill them,” Williams said.
Williams and Nelson will ask lawmakers for more funding to try to reduce the number of suicides that happen every year, which is estimated at about 37,000.
The Kansas City chapter offers educational materials for schools and supports those who have lost someone to suicide.
