THUNDER BAY -- Ten years ago, Margaret Hajdinjak came home and discovered every parent’s worst nightmare.
Her son Steven, then 26, had taken his own life.
When she broke the news to her husband, he surprised her, saying he wanted to keep the cause of death a secret.
“He said don’t tell anybody,” Hajdinjak said on Monday, six days before the fifth annual Out of the Darkness Memorial Walk is scheduled to take place at Confederation College, a chance for the survivors of suicide victims to come forward and remember their loved ones without the fear of shame.
Instead she gathered group of her son’s friends together and entered a team in the annual Dragon Boat Festival on Boulevard Lake, a tradition that continues to this day.
“It was a great way to remember Steven through his friends,” she said.
However, the subsequent years brought more tragedy.
Three of Steven’s friends have since committed suicide themselves, and four years ago Hajdinjak decided to bring the Out of the Darkness Memorial Walk to Thunder Bay.
Suicide is a room in hell with your name in the door, she said. But it doesn’t have to be.
“We’ve been trying to survive and things like this help to go on and to survive,” Hajdinjak said.
The walk is also an opportunity for those who truly know the horrors of suicide and the impact it can have on those left behind.
“When someone says they know how you feel, you really don’t know how they feel until you’ve lost someone to suicide,” she said.
In addition to the three-kilometre walk, survivors will also be able to sign their name or post pictures to a growing memorial wall.
Suicide is the leading cause of death among young adults from 15 to 24, and more than one million people die by their own hands each year around the world.
Registration for this year’s walk begins at 5 p.m. at Confederation College’s Shuniah building. Opening ceremonies start at 6 p.m. in Sunday with the walk itself beginning at 6:30 p.m.
There is no entry fee.
