On April 9th 2016, Michigan State students received an alert that a young man was reported missing after posting on various social media sites that he was considering taking his own life.
On April 13th 2016, a body of a young man was recovered near the south side of Michigan States campus in a heavily wooded area.
On April 14th 2016, the student was identified as Patrick Kegan Cochrane, a young man and senior at Michigan State, who earlier that week was identified as missing after posting various videos and blog posts indicating that he wanted to take his own life. The police suspected no foul play and the cause of death will be determined by a medical examiner in the upcoming days (The State News).
I want to start off by saying that I have personally never met Kegan or had any type of interaction with him. My condolences go to all his loved ones, who I’m sure are immensely grieving at this time.
When I first heard that a student on campus went missing and was considering self harm, I felt an immense amount of sadness, guilt, and sorrow. Although I have personally never met Kegan, I can only imagine the amount of sadness and pain he must have felt. Being a young adult, I have battled with depression, anxiety, and self-harm myself, and I know that anyone that’s ever been there knows and is aware of just how helpless and how much pain you feel.
The point that you reach where you are willing to take your own life because you no longer feel as though there is a reason to live is extremely profound. The place you are at when you’ve decided that you are are willing to take your last breath on earth is a very incomprehensible thing to understand and grasp.
I personally do not think that taking one’s own life is cowardly or selfish. I think that anyone that has a thought out plan or makes an impromptu decision to take their own life and commit suicide, is clearly suffering in ways I can’t remotely begin to understand, and most likely doesn’t mentally have a good, clear, rational state of mind.
Mental health is something so significant and something every human being deals with on a daily basis. And the statistics surrounding mental health, especially in young adults, is actually quite frightening. And in light of Kegan’s recent death, I began to have a lot of questions. Why is suicide such a prevalent option when people feel as though there’s no way out? Why, as a society, is it still basically a “no-no” to discuss mental health and issues surrounding it? Why do universities and high schools for that matter, put so little emphasis on mental health? So many people are suffering in silence under an unfair stigma that is associated with mental health issues. It’s 2016, we all deal with a variety of issues in our personal lives and the amount of stress caused by school is extremely taxing, so why are we so turned off as a society when it comes to discussing and getting help with mental illness? I know it’s not a perfect world and that I’ll probably never get all the answers that I would like to the questions I have, but something definitely needs to change.
What if Kegan had felt comfortable enough to confide in someone, or take advantage of resources such as the counseling center here on campus, which in my opinion isn’t enough. Sometimes it’s really hard to recognize that you have a problem or are going down a dangerous path. And it doesn’t necessarily help that our society labels people as “crazy” or the perpetuating stigma that has surrounded mental illness for centuries. I’m not saying Kegan could still be alive, I don’t know the universe's plan for everyone, hell I don’t even know it for myself. I just think that Kegan’s unfortunate death should be a wake up call for all of us. Suicide should not be the only way out for someone that is hurting and in that much pain. Mental illness is a real thing and if we don’t do something or spread awareness to change this and change the stigma, that just isn’t okay. We can all do our part on this earth to erase the stigma and not label people with mental illness.
Although I did not know Kegan or had any interactions with him, I can genuinely say that he has impacted my life more than he would/could have ever known.
Mental illness can be helped, we can speak out and change the stigma against mental illness so deaths like Kegan’s do not have to be another statistic.
