John Drury's Courage Compliment

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This Blog entry was originally published on June 23, 2016

by Kevin Roy

                                                                     

The late John Drury gave me the best compliment of my life.
"It took a lot of courage to do that," he said.
His words brought "A Son of Suicide," to a close.

Courage?
I was surprised to hear that word at first.

Until then, I hadn't thought of my decision to share the story of my mother's suicide to be a courageous act.

It started as my way of honoring my mother, Diane Marcus Roy.

It felt like something I had to do.  I didn't want her death to be in vain.

If anyone knew about courage, it was John Drury.  I started watching him while I was growing up in River Forest, a suburb just west of Chicago.

When he said those words to me with more than a million people watching "The ABC7 Chicago News at 10:00," few people, including me, knew that Drury had been diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. 

How right he was.

We saved lives.

Several viewers called to thank me.  Each one said he or she had plans to take their own lives but got help after seeing and hearing how suicide impacts those of us left behind, survivors of suicide, in such a unique way and for the rest of our lives.

In the days leading up to "A Son of Suicide," the station's promo was in heavy rotation during the important February sweeps.

Some people were questioning my motives before it aired.

They said I was exploiting my mother's tragedy to advance my career.

I will always be grateful to Ron Magers.

During his daily appearance on "The Roe Conn Show" on WLS-AM 890, Magers said, "Don't all of us try to give our best with the hope it might get us noticed and help advance our careers?"

I hope you also watch "Surviving Suicide," produced during my Fellowship with The Carter Center's Mental Health Journalism Program.

Both projects won Emmy Awards and many other journalistic honors.  "A Son of Suicide" won top honors from many mental health organizations locally and nationally.

But the reward that eclipses all of them and drives me to this day is helping people, improving and saving lives with journalism that matters.

It's been 22 years since I lost my mother.

The suicide rate keeps climbing, the stigma's often deadly grip grows stronger, but mental health reporting, especially on TV, barely exists.

I want to change that.

I know what it takes. 

Mental health reporting is a key to ending the stigma and stopping suicide.

Another key is love.