July 12, 2012 marked the first anniversary of my brother’s suicide.

After facing that ‘first’, I wanted to start a different story and begin to move forward in a more positive way. I decided to make the following year a year of challenges and new experiences – a year of 52 Firsts.

At the same time, I wanted to use the experience to get people talking about the taboo subject of suicide and to recognise the shocking statistics: Suicide is biggest single cause of death for young males in the UK.

I set up a blog, to document my challenge, and to hopefully help make more people aware of the issue. As part of this experience, I have decided to run the London 10k (anybody who is aware of my sporting ability will know this really is going to be a challenge!) and to also raise funds for a charity that does brilliant work in both raising awareness of male suicide and helping those that need it.

CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) is a national charity, which runs a helpline and website to offer immediate assistance to men who are down or facing a crisis. They also work to challenge the culture that prevents men from seeking help when they need it and to challenge stereotypes that prevent men from talking about the issues they face. Since it launched the Merseyside CALMzone in 2000, the number of suicides in the region has fallen year on year and now is below the average for both the North West and England and Wales. Since then, the charity has widened their geographical scope and continue to do fantastic work in trying to reduce suicide rates across the UK. 

My target of £500 would help to run the phone line for just one day. One day that could make a massive difference to many, many people’s lives. As I have witnessed first hand, it is not just the lives of these young men that CALM is helping to save, but also the devastation and heartache of every person that knows and loves them.

 

So please dig deep and donate now.