This is a story from one of Hope4Alaska’s Campaign Crew volunteers. She is now making a difference in this world! Abby Brooks is a 16-year-old Hutchison High School student from Fairbanks, Alaska. She is part Athabaskan and Yupik.
“About 4 years ago when I was in the seventh grade I struggled with whether I was worth anything and felt like I was wasted space. As time went on I more and more felt like there is no reason for me to live. Then one day when I was home alone I decided that everyone was better off without me and so I took almost a whole bottle of my ADD medicine then after I was done swallowing I started to think about what I was going to miss and how so many people had told me that my future was going to be bright and how they believed in me. I started to get really scared and finally after panicking for a few minutes I ran into the bathroom and forced myself to throw up. That night I cried myself to sleep thinking what if I did die and I started to realize that’s not what I really wanted. The next morning when I woke up I was first glad that I was still alive but at the same time I still felt alone and insignificant. But when I went downstairs my mom had gotten up to make a big breakfast and was in a really happy mood. And when I got downstairs I was greeted by her and she gave me a huge hug and told me she loves me and right there all my doubts just went away I felt special again. As time went on I started to feel happy again started to try at things again. Started to focus on thing like dog mushing and basketball. But most importantly my family pulled me though even though they didn’t know that I felt that way they knew that I was going though a hard time and they constantly told me how much they loved me and how they cared about me and that they are there for me. And sense then I have had my rough patches and have found myself feeling alone but then my family just reminds me that I’m not alone.
Then on the 23 of August my mom pulled me out of class and when I saw her she just started to cry as she told me that our very close family friend’s son had committed suicide. He was like an older brother to me as we drove to their house it didn’t seem real. Then at their house as I sat on their couch I watched person after person stop and all seemed to feel lost and confused but all I could think was how could he hurt all these people but then realized it could have been me. After that I knew I had to be all the person I knew I could be. Then at AASG I started to talk to Tessa for the middle school mini conference and she started sharing about what she was doing. Then after AASG I realized I wanted to help because no one deserves to feel alone and worthless. So my name is Abby Brooks and I Care About You”
