Pastor speaks out about niece's suicide
Sep. 8—Jason Queen was on the way to his brother-in-law's house last November when a member of his church called to relay devastating news. His 15-year-old niece had committed suicide.
"She was a teenage girl that had been battling depression, and one day decided to take her own life," Queen said.
Bethel-Shea Ann Sawyer was a student at Haywood Early College.
"She was one of the biggest hearted people I've known, wanted to help everybody, loved animals, loved people, I mean just extremely kind-hearted and seemed to love everyone but herself for some reason," Queen said.
Her suicide came as a shock to Queen. Shea had been seeing a counselor for years and seemed to be doing better, he thought.
"A couple of days before she took her life, we were at a family cookout, joking around, cutting up with her. I'd always pick at her and she'd give it right back to me. That's just the relationship we had and would just laugh and cut up," Queen recalled.
Queen is a pastor at Christian Creek Baptist Church in Swannanoa and spoke to the increase of suicides in the local community.
"The suicide rate is just skyrocketing, and it's hit so many families," Queen said. "I've dealt with three different suicides since Shea's. When you've been in those shoes and it's hit your family, you can kind of relate to people a little better."
Stop the Pain support
When a family is reeling from the suicide of a loved one and struggling to cope with the emotional trauma, the logistics of funeral expenses or buying groceries are the last thing they should have to worry about. An organization called Stop the Pain, founded by Jody Medford who lost his own mother to suicide, was there to help Shea's family through that difficult time.
"My brother-in-law was just in shock with all that was going on," Queen recalled.
Queen reached out to Medford, and learned Stop the Pain could cover the cost of the funeral for the family.
"It took the stress out of that situation, which was just amazing," Queen said. "And he offered to hook the family up with some good Christian-based counselors."
After the funeral, Medford took Queen to a Food Lion that partners with Stop The Pain to provide groceries for families suffering from a suicide.
"We got a couple buggies full of groceries that they bought and took to the family, so they didn't have to worry about buying groceries or having food for the next couple of weeks," Queen said. "It was a tremendous help. Jody was awesome at being available and helping out any way he could."
Stop the Pain is hosting a fundraising concert in Waynesville on Sept. 16, and Queen encourages the community to join him in attending the concert and supporting Stop the Pain's mission.
"You hear of people committing suicide, and it'll pull at the strings of anyones heart, but to experience it personally when it hits your family, it's a pain that's just deep — that nobody can know until you're walking in those shoes, but Jody does," Queen said. "He was able to alleviate a lot of that stress that we would have had to face during that time, had it not been for him and the money raised by the concert, so I'm very appreciative of what he does and what he stands for."
In 2021, suicide was the second leading causes of death for people aged 10 — 24, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suicide in 2022 among all age groups was up 2.6% over the previous year, according to the CDC.
The Suicide & Crisis Lifeline website 988lifeline.org has a list of risk factors that can be found under the website's 'Help' tab that are common characteristics of someone who might be struggling with harmful thoughts, however these factors aren't always the cause or can predict a suicide.
For those struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts, help is just a phone call away. Dial 988 or 800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
