A fundraising walk on the campus of Appalachian State University brought the subject of suicide out of the darkness to save others.

Triad member Logan Johnson was among those who drove from Kernersville to Boone April 25 to walk for Mark and Cindy Sprinkle’s Team Jeremy. Their son Jeremy Sprinkle, 18, died Nov. 13, 2014, in an ASU dorm.

“I grew up with Jeremy and he was a really good friend of mine so after everything that happened my dad and I decided to come up,” Johnson said. “We walked mainly to support their family and so that other families don’t have to go through the same thing.”

Appalachian State University student Sami Damsky, whose father took his life last year, organized the local “Out of the Darkness” walk for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The AFSP’s campus walks boost awareness and financial support for further research, education, and training.

Cindy Sprinkle said she first learned about the walk in Boone while on the foundation’s website. She, Mark and Nathan decided to create their own team and advertised it with a Facebook post.

Support quickly poured in from friends at Triad, where they joined in 1992, from Calebs Creek Elementary, where Cindy teaches, from Glenn High School, where Jeremy graduated with honors in June 2014, and from Appalachian State University, where walkers included several residents of Lovill Hall, Jeremy’s dorm. 

Of the 267 walkers registered for the walk, Team Jeremy raised the most — $6,243 of the $13,866.72 total to date — and had the most members with 67.

As they walked through the streets of Boone, Team Jeremy members wore orange, his favorite color, and buttons with his picture and dates marking the years of his life.

Suicide by the numbers

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 41,149 suicides were reported in the U.S. in 2013 (the most recent year the center has full data for), making it the 10th leading cause of death for Americans.

After cancer and heart disease, suicide accounts for more years of life lost than any other cause of death. And it’s the third leading cause of death among youth ages 15 to 24.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Health, whose Boone chapter assisted Damsky with the walk, scientific evidence has shown that almost all people who take their own lives have a diagnosable mental or substance abuse disorder, and most have more than one disorder.

Learn the warning signs of suicide and what to do if you spot them in someone you love.

Cindy said Jeremy’s death has encouraged her to share more about her own personal struggles with bipolar disorder — the mental illness she was diagnosed with not long after her son Nathan was born. Jeremy learned he suffered from the same condition during his freshman year at Glenn.

“It is an illness and you need treatment for it,” said Cindy of the syndrome, noting that about 18 million Americans have a similar diagnosed and treatable mental illness. 

Among the biggest challenges Jeremy faced, Cindy said, was the stigma and misconceptions about being mentally ill.

“He saw it as a character flaw instead of an illness,” she said. “He wanted to be successful without his medication so stopped taking it and spiraled downhill quickly. These kids don’t want to be labeled, and so many suffer needlessly because of that and lose hope or don’t get the treatment they need in the first place.

“Mark and I hope that events like this will open eyes and minds, make people aware of the resources available for treatment and support, and, ultimately, save lives.”