Andrea St. Clair can't remember what song she sang in the talent competition on July 15, 2002, even though she was selected for the next round, but St. Clair, who was 15 at the time, vividly remembers her mother's screams later that day.
They had come home from the competition to find that her uncle, Tommy Franklin, had died by suicide. He was 43.
St. Clair never made it to the next round in that talent competition. She said the event felt too "tainted" after her uncle's death.
She did, however, grow up to be a dedicated advocate for mental-health awareness and suicide prevention in West Virginia.
St. Clair said Franklin, who had been a construction worker, had never recovered, emotionally or physically, after losing his leg from falling off a roof.
Franklin had battled depression all his life, according to St. Clair. After the fall, he lost his sense of self-worth and lacked the coping mechanisms to deal with it, she said.
Today, St. Clair is a board member of the recently formed <URL destination="https://www.facebook.com/AFSP-West-Virginia-1561729300732739/timeline/">West Virginia chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
</URL>"My mission is to help other families from having to go through that," she said. "It didn't really bring us close. It didn't really tear us apart. It just left people with a lot of questions and a lot of pain."
One of the group's initiatives so far has been to increase the number of Out of the Darkness Walks in West Virginia.
A walk was held in Mercer County on Sept. 12. This Saturday, a walk is planned for Parkersburg, at the City Park. St. Clair is the chairwoman of the walk in Charleston, on Oct. 10, on the Capitol grounds. Walks also are planned for Oct. 24, in Shepherdstown, and Oct. 31, at Palatine Park, in Fairmont. Donations benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
The walks are named "Out of the Darkness" because it is organizers' goal to bring suicide out of the shadows.
The idea is that, by making suicide OK to talk about, people suffering from the mental-health issues associated with suicide will be more likely to seek help.
"Every life is worth saving," St. Clair said. "Every life matters to us, and we really want people to see that there's hope and that they're worth so much."
They also hope to dispel misconceptions.
St. Clair remembers sitting at her uncle's funeral and listening as the pastor implied that suicide was a sin.
In actuality, he was facing a medical illness and likely felt his dying would mean he was no longer a burden, she said.
"It's not that he was only thinking about himself," she said. "He was just that depressed."
Organizers also want those struggling to look around at the walks and see that others have similar stories and want to help.
"That's why it's a walk, not a 5K or anything," she said. "We make it a walk so people can walk together and talk about things they've gone through."
St. Clair believes that her uncle felt like he was alone in his battle with depression.
"There are always people that care about you, that are going to support you, that really have your best interest in mind," she said. "Sometimes you just can't see it, because you get that tunnel vision."
St. Clair asked her mother if there was anything she wanted her daughter to say during an interview.
"My mom said he had a hard battle. He's loved and missed, and he tried to get help," she said. "Those were my mom's words."
To find out more about the walks, visit http://afsp.donordrive.com.
To register for the event in Charleston: http://afsp.donordrive.com/index .cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive .event&eventID=3666
Reach Erin Beck at erin.beck@wvgazette.com, 304-348-5163, Facebook.com/erinbeckwv or follow @erinbeckwv on Twitter.