Elizabeth Soeters never talks about it.
The issue of suicide appeared throughout her life — her mother and her sister committed suicide and Soeters herself is a suicide-attempt survivor — yet it rarely is discussed by her family.
"It was something we don't talk about because it hurts," said Soeters, who works at the Sparty's shop located in the International Center.
But on Saturday, the 39-year-old spoke candidly about suicide as she joined more than 100 others for the second annual Out of the Darkness Community Walk. The event, held along the Riverwalk Trail in Lansing, raised at least $4,000, said Marcie Montgomery, co-chairperson of the event.
"I feel like God has given me a second chance," Soeters said after she successfully battled her own mental illness by taking medication and seeing a counselor.
Saturday was the first of five Michigan walks to take place in the next few weeks to raise money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. About 70 walks will be held across the country to raise funds for awareness programs, research and education.
"People don't realize how serious of a problem it is," Montgomery said.
Nearly 30,000 people in the United States commit suicide each year, according to the National Mental Health Association.
"It's one of the top three killers of that age group (people 15 to 24 years old)," said Dennis Martell, health education coordinator at Olin Health Center.
Suicide is a killer about which many students are uneducated. Less than 12 percent of students surveyed by Olin said they received information about the issue, Martell said.
Saturday was a chance for family members who lost loved ones to openly talk about suicide.
Soeters pointed to a memory board before the walk where she had posted a 20-year-old photograph of her older sister, Patricia.
It was taken the day Patricia Soeters graduated from orthodontist school. The two sisters, linked arm-in-arm, are smiling.
Years after the picture was snapped, Patricia Soeters, a successful Okemos orthodontist, committed suicide. Her death came as a shock — Patricia Soeters was the one who had always comforted her sister as Elizabeth battled bipolar disorder and tried to kill herself at age 19.
"She was like a second mother to me," Soeters said.
The walk served as a tribute to her family and her own survivor story.
"I'm doing it not only for my mom and my sister, but for me too," she said.
