Blaize Harper Gow committed suicide in summer 2018. She was young, beautiful, unique and talented. But she was also ill; and no matter how young, beautiful, unique or talented you are, or how ever many loving people you have around you, when the darkness strikes, it comes, it envelops, and it smothers.  There's no quick fix. There's no way to laugh your way through it. There's no magic trick. It's a trudge, through mud, in the rain.

Sometimes it is those closest who feel it the most. They experience the waves of change from the perspective of unconditional love. Going down when they go down, and rising up when they rise up. The emotional strain of this roller-coaster ride is monumental. Often those who are ill are contained within a cocoon of their mental state, oblivious to the strain being borne by those trying to help them. For family members, remaining positive and loving, even when you are pushed as far away as can be possible, is as strong a test of love as any, and can cause a whole host of consequential issues.

And for some of those affected, thankfully, they can see light at the end of that tunnel.

For others, like Blaize, they either can't, or they don't believe it to be there.

This is the whole point of a charity called Health in Mind, and the whole point of mental health professionals and support workers in general. 

- First, it is to help those that are ill, get them to open their eyes and see that light at the end of the tunnel, and then encourage them to walk towards it and watch it get brighter and brighter as they progress. 

- Second, it is to ease the strain and burden on family and friends, and support them in their needs. Their mental health and well being is as much of a concern. 

- Third and finally, and most regretfully, it is to support those who have lost loved ones who have succumbed to the darkness. 

So please, if donating without a cause isn't enough, then let me run. I will drag myself around mile after mile, doing what little I can to raise awareness of this issue.

Mental illness is everywhere, and we have all experienced it somehow, be that personally, or in someone else. Raise awareness. Spread the work. 

Thank you

Hx