The Story Behind Mat's Ride
At first glance, Mathew appeared to be a quiet young man, but once you got to know him, you found out that he was an outgoing, creative, thoughtful, generous person and a loyal friend to all who knew him. He had a passion for films and had applied to SAIT for the cinematography program. He dreamt one day of becoming a director. He was surrounded by many friends who enjoyed his crazy sense of humour and creativity. He didn't smoke, use drugs or drink alcohol. His love of motorcycles had led him to buy his first bike and you would see him ride it every day, rain or shine. He was well known for standing up for what was right and helping the "underdog". He had helped many friends work through their problems and always listened with his ears and his heart.
We know now that he was the one that needed help. Mathew suffered from depression without anyone realizing it—not his family, not his friends and not himself. Although he had helped others out of the depths of their depression and prevented them from making a fatal error, Mathew was unable to reach for the help that he needed even though he was surrounded by a loving family and friends.
On June 24, 2005, two days before his nineteenth birthday, Mathew could no longer see the light of hope and succumbed to the darkness of depression.
We were devastated and shocked by this event. How could this happen to our son? How could this happen to our family? Since that day,we have had several individuals come forward and share their experience and seek help for themselves. Our willingness to talk openly of Mathew and this event has been a blessing to us all. As a family, we want to help prevent this from happening to others. We would like to help youth and their families realize the prevalence of depression and other mental illnesses. We would like to educate everyone about mental illness, the stigma attached to it and to offer them hope. By bringing this illness forward and talking about it openly in our homes, in our schools and in our society,we will be able to remove the stigma attached and accept it as part of life as we do many other illnesses such as Diabetes, Cancer, and Heart Disease. We need to be able to take depression and other mental illnesses out into the open more so we can work together to understand, accept and support individuals.
This year, we are again raising funds for the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) — Calgary Chapter in support of their Youth Education Programs which reach out to schools in the Calgary and surrounding area.
