Ashley DeYoung
April 26,2014
Health & Wellness
Professor Slates
Paper
Suicide
“Suicide is never the answer, getting help is.” Taking the life of oneself is a horrible thing to ever think or read about. Lately, more and more people are committing suicide. Both men and women are committing suicide, but men are more likely to do so. Men are also more likely to commit suicide by shooting themselves or more goory ways. Women tend to be the ones who are neater about this. I know it is horrible to think about, but it is happening and we need to help put an end to it.
To help decrease the amount of suicides reported or read about, we should be posting more and getting the resources known to help these human beings. There are several suicide help lines. Some include, 1-800-SUICIDE or 1-800-273-TALK (Suicide.org). Those are two hot lines that one can call, in addition, there are several websites and therapists that are welling to help. However, the person has to be willing to reach out and get help before committing this horrible crime.
Personally, a girl I knew just committed suicide. She, Madison Holleran, was a 19-year-old girl from Bergen County. She was a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania. She went to UPenn on a track scholarship and to have a great academic workload as well. In her fall semester, she received a 3.5 GPA, but stressed about maintaining that during the spring. She received many high school achievement awards for track and soccer during her four years at Northern Highlands Regional High School in Allendale, NJ. Everyone in the county looked at Madison as a star track runner and wanted to see her excel in college. Madison was never one that was in trouble. She never did drugs and did not have a boyfriend at the time because of her focusing on school and track. She came home for winter break and the day her father was driving her back, she said “ I do not want to go back.” The dad responded, “lets just keep driving and go to North Carolina and look there.” Madison was not happy at UPenn and was going to look to transfer after the spring. Before she could start applying to transfer, Madison took her own life by jumping from a 7 story building on January 17th, 2014.
An hour before she jumped, she posted a picture on her Instagram account of a beautiful park in Philly. She made dinner plans and sent text messages without seeming suicidal. Her parents knew she needed help and talked about her going to talk to someone.
Her death was caused by stress. Stress is something that challenges or a threatto our well being(Nordqvist).Her stress was self- induced and she started seeing a therapist, Madison kept her secrets hidden inside of her. She lost confidence in her academic performance as well as her track performance. Her parents tried everything to help her gain that confidence again, but Madison was the only one that could really help herself. Reports stated that Madison left a note and gifts on top of the parking garage she jumped from. Her father was in contact with her and told her to make an emergency appointment with her therapist Friday night. He wanted her to get an anti-depressant prescription. Unfortunately, Madison had other plans for herself.
As a community that she lived in, we are all still mourning the loss of this great, smart, athlete, Madison Holleran. Hundreds of students, teammates, coaches, friends, and family gather at Madison’s funeral to remember this great young lady. Together, we try to keep Madison in our lives. As an environment of athletes and friends, we are holding a 5k run in honor of her. WE have come together to remember her stories and all the great achievements she has received. Madison still lives on and even though it is still recent, Madison will still be remembered later on.
Madison was not able to let her emotions be heard and resulted in taking her own life. If she was able to talk more with a therapist, maybe it would have stopped this terrible death. This is a lesson to teenagers and young adults, if you feel the need to talk to someone please do so. There are several organizations and people one can talk to. Do not think that you have to hurt or take your own life to release the emotions or stress.
Like I mentioned above, Madison had a lot of stress in her life. Attending an Ivy League school and competing on the track team was a very difficult thing to accomplish. Personally, I know competing at Rowan and balancing my academic schedule is stressful, but cannot imagine what Madison was feeling. Graduating before Madison, I knew she was popular amongst her peers and teammates looked up to her as a great leader. I did not know Madison on a personal level, just on a sports level. I knew she was a great competitor and someone who got a lot of fans routing her on. It just shows that even if one is social amongst peers and has a great group of friends, one still may feel that they need to bottle emotions up on the inside. One should be willing to talk to family or friends to help them. No one should have to hold things on the inside that will eventually hurt them more. To see how Madison’s community came together for her at her funeral was very emotional to see how many people cared for her and she felt she had no one to go to.
Madison was able to maintain a healthy lifestyle, which surprises many people. By being able to exercise and eat a balanced diet is important to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Madison was able to do this, but the stress of school and track really got to her. It is sad to see this young lady gone, but her story will live on forever. Her family said, she showed no signs of suicide until December and that is when she first starting seeing a therapist. They kept looking back to the summer of her senior year and starting UPenn, she was the happiest girl and then all of a sudden she was not the happy Madison they knew. Her father knew she was depressed dealing with being away from home and believes this is what started all of her emotions and confidence changes.
Her family will still have some rough times, but with the help of the community and all the support groups out there, they will be able to continue living their lives and remember their daughter, granddaughter, niece, and cousin. Physically, emotionally and spiritually Madison will never be lost. We know she is up there running along side of each one of us and looking out for us.
In the US, nearly 30,000 Americans die of suicide. From the age of 15-24, suicide is the third leading cause of death. The strongest risk factor of suicide is depression. It is known that one person dies of suicide every 16.2 minutes. By being educated about prevention and public awareness, suicide rates can be decreased. For every three female suicide attempts, there is one male attempt. However, for every four male suicides, there is a female suicide. Many who do attempt suicide never have seen professional help and attempt suicide with a firearm. Clearly, suicide is becoming one of the most dangerous diseases and people need to be aware how to help one or themselves before attempting this disease.
Furthermore, Madison Holleran had the life many wishes they could have, but due to stress and depression, her life was not the way she wanted it. She took her own life and many remember Madison for all of her accomplishments and the great person she was. Like her family has said, they want to get her story heard and to help save lives of others who have thought about suicide. To get information out here is important to help save the lives of ones who feel like Madison did and her family wants to help do so. Therefore, one should always listen to one if they ever want to talk about taking their own life, because it can really help change their decision.
Work Cited
Kemp, J., & GOLGOWSKI, N. (2014, January 20). University of Pennsylvania
track star jumped to death over grades: Family friend Read more:
philadelphia-article-1.1585337#ixzz30KQPj7LX. DailyNews, pp. 1-2.
Madison Holleran Suicide: UPenn Freshman Jumps To Death Over Grades At Ivy League College. (n.d.).International Business Times. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from
Suicide Facts.(n.d.).SAVE. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from
What Is Stress? How To Deal With Stress. (n.d.).Medical News Today. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from
1