Irish mixed martial artist’s harrowing suicide prevention post goes viral on World Mental Health day

A harrowing story posted by a well known Irish mixed martial artist has gone viral today on World Mental Health day.

Rob Steenson posted about how he was just 16 years old when he got severely depressed and tried to take his own life.

His passionate post showed how he his father, Malachy had to rush him to hospital while his mother, Mary was left at home with a bloodstained hoodie not knowing whether her beloved son would survive or not.

Thankfully Rob’s father managed to race him to hospital in time and the doctors and nurses raced to save his life. His post, which can be read below, includes how Rob is now a father himself and how he couldn’t imagine his own child putting him through the torture he put his own parents through during the terrible ordeal.

The main aim of the post is to get anyone who is feeling the way Rob was to speak out, ask for help and talk to someone, anyone who will listen. The full post below is also on his instagram page here.

People have been asked to share this post with their friends to raise awareness on World Mental Health Day.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

I put this post up a couple of years running and I can’t explain the amount of messages I received from people saying things I would have never imagined – things like how they were seriously thinking about taking their own lives before they read it and its given them a reason not to. I posted about it when I wasn’t as reluctant to put myself out there on a personal level but as I’ve gotten older I’ve been less inclined to do that. Also I didn’t want to appear to be on a bandwagon or a part of a fashion trend. Then I realised it’s not about me, bandwagons don’t matter and somebody else’s personal opinion of me is none of my business. I realised it would be selfish not to share it because if there’s even a 1% chance it will change anything for anybody then its imperative that I do it. . . . Anyway.. About 10 years ago, I was around 16/17, after having a few drinks – in a depressed and frustrated state – I cut my arm to the bone with an art blade I got from school. I cut two minor arteries that were running into a main artery and very nearly bled to death, only for my Da speeding up the North Circular Road with me in the passenger seat in and out of consciousness seat I’d be dead now. It’s always felt strange and extreme saying that, but its not an exaggeration. The images haunt me. The last thing I remember is being on the floor in A&E with doctors frantically swarming around me. Another 10 minutes and it would have been too late. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for putting my family through that and I can never take it back, I do know I was extremely lucky though. This is the picture of the hoodie I was wearing that I left at home with my Ma, not knowing whether her I was dead or alive. Being a parent now I can’t imagine how that must have felt. Horrific. What was I thinking. This was all because I didn’t talk about things, kept them bottled up, the usual. We live in a big bad world and every day people take their own lives. Maybe they don’t know where to look or who to talk to, maybe they’re too afraid. I understand. It gets dark. I know. It gets really really dark and its horrible. Like there’s a grey Instagram filter on the world..(cont.)

A post shared by Rob Steenson (@robsteenson) on Oct 10, 2019 at 9:05am PDT

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