WMTW

Hundreds of motorcycles hit the streets in the Lewiston-Auburn area to spread awareness about suicide.

See video here https://www.wmtw.com/article/motorists-ride-through-lewiston-auburn-area-for-power-suicide-awareness-event/22834526

SUN JOURNAL

August 20, 2018

LEWISTON — With the second anniversary of his father’s death approaching, Nick Danforth decided last summer to organize the first Ride for Suicide in just four weeks. He says he felt depressed but inspired, thinking it might feel good to raise awareness around suicide and help someone else.

A woman in her 50s saw him post the event to Facebook and threw herself into helping him organize it. Weeks later, she shared that she’d been planning to end her life and had all the details worked out.

“(Helping organize) was enough, she said, to give her a purpose, because then people were talking to her like they were talking to me, ‘Holy crap, you’re doing a good thing,’” said Danforth, 34, who works in car sales.

“It was distracting her from her pain. It was able to get her through enough to where she decided: ‘Wow, I’m not going to take my own life. That would be stupid.’”

Almost a year later, he is still stunned to have made such a difference, but grateful the ride brought people together.

The second annual Ride for Suicide is scheduled for Sunday. That first year, he had hoped for 20 people to turn out and 221 did. This year, he is aiming for 400.

Motorcyclists will start to gather and register at the Auburn Mall starting at 8 a.m. and leave at 10:30 a.m. from Shaw’s for a ride through Livermore and Winthrop. The ride will end at the BBQ Pit, the former Margarita’s on Lisbon Street, in Lewiston at about 12:30 p.m.

Danforth plans to speak before the ride, along withMatt Graham, who lost his daughter, Anie, to suicide last year. Danforth said others are welcome to speak.

His father, David, died Aug. 30, 2015. Danforth had been out on a ride on his Harley-Davidson to Old Orchard Beach when he noticed a missed call from his dad. His phone ran out of a charge, and once back at home “my other half had like 30 missed calls from my sister-in-law,” he said.

Danforth said he had not been aware his father was depressed, and even in hindsight he didn’t see signs.

“He was never rich but he’d give the shirt off his back,” Danforth said. “It was out of nowhere.”

His goal with the ride was for people to connect around suicide prevention and awareness and share stories.

“I’m hoping it sparks friendships or conversations,” he said. “Even some people came last year who didn’t even have bikes, they just wanted to talk about it. We’re hoping it’ll just bring people together so you can talk. You never know.”

The event last year raised nearly $2,400 in donations, and this year a raffle and other fundraisers are planned. A portion of the cost of meals at the BBQ Pit, which will include a pig roast and live bands, is also being donated.

Funds last year went to a local woman who was pregnant and whose partner had recently killed himself. Danforth found her over Facebook.

“She happened to work at a Harley dealership, so I thought, what better else. ..,” Danforth said. “It allowed her to stay out of work for an extra few days, pay some bills, buy some baby stuff.”

When his father died, Danforth said a good friend insisted on paying for the funeral, refusing to take no for an answer.

“I figured (raising funds through the ride) was a good way to pass it forward and keep it going,” Danforth said.

He’s kept in touch with the woman who volunteered to help him out so much with the first ride, even this summer attending her wedding.

“It was an outdoor wedding. Out of all the people, 100 or so people at her wedding, she runs out of line, runs over to me, gives me a hug and says to me, ‘I can’t believe you made it. Thank you,’ and goes back, stands with her dad and walks down the aisle,” Danforth said.

He’s been similarly surprised when people have asked for a photo or told him his event made a difference for them, too.

“Really? Me? I’m just a normal guy,” Danforth said. “When you hear that type of stuff, wow, I don’t know what to think about it.”

Nick Danforth of Lewiston shows off his motorcycle, which was just detailed with a photo of his father and other promotions for this Sunday’s upcoming Ride for Suicide. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

“I’m hoping it sparks friendships or conversations. Even some people came last year who didn’t even have bikes, they just wanted to talk about it. We’re hoping it’ll just bring people together so you can talk. You never know.”

— Nick Danforth of Lewiston, Ride for Suicide founder whose dad died three years ago

Nick Danforth, front, leads a group of motorcycles down Center Street in Auburn during last year’s Ride for Suicide. The next ride is planned for Sunday, Aug. 26. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

Nick Danforth, front, leads a group of motorcycles down Center Street in Auburn during last year’s Ride for Suicide. The next ride is planned for Sunday, Aug. 26. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

SUN JOURNAL

Some of the several hundred motorcycles participating in Sunday’s Ride for Suicide make their way up Center Street in Auburn. Nick Danforth, who lost his father, David, to suicide in August 2015, started the ride to help others suffering from the after-effects of suicide. They met up in the parking lot of the Auburn Mall for a scenic route to downtown Portland, ending with a meet-up of participants in the Out of the Darkness Walk for AFSP (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) at Thompson’s Point in Portland. 

NEWS CENTER MAINE

AUBURN, Maine (NEWS CENTER) – Hundreds of people gathered at the Auburn Mall Sunday to take part in the first annual Ride for Suicide. The event was put together by Nick Danforth and Joyce Strand in an effort to raise awareness and support for people and families who have lost loved ones to suicide.

“The only escape I get really from my personal life is open road on the bike,” said Danforth. “I had a friend who lost someone to suicide so I called him up and and got some friends together and said we will have a ride.Well friends told friends and friends told friends and it hit Facebook and now its more of a rally/movement.”

Danforth lost his father to suicide two years ago. Joyce Strand’s son Nick took his own life earlier this year. Strand and Danforth initially connected over Facebook and from there planned the event for Sunday which included a 50-50, the sale of t-shirts and bracelets, and a motorcycle gas tank that collected donations that would go to struggling families.

“We need people to become aware. We need people to help spread the word,” said Strand. We need people to be supportive. We don’t care what you come in just come and be supportive.

The ride took place between Auburn and Portland and included motorcycles, cars, and trucks.

Both organizers put on the event in hopes to help struggling families and change someones’ life for the better.

“If we can help one person get through a struggle,” said Strand. “You know even if it is to give them a hug.”

“You know when I lost my dad I was hurt, so I decided to do something about it. said Danforth. “And if this saves one person, goal achieved for sure.”

David A. Danforth 
Aug 30,2015

That is my dad and he is why I started the ride.  David A. Danforth  went by “Dad” to everyone.. died Aug 30,2015 . Not a day goes by that he isn’t missed.

Eric A. Cole Jr.
November 28, 1988-July 13, 2018

Eric graduated from Hermon High School, class of 2007. He began his career in the military enlisting even before graduation. Upon graduation he entered the Air National Guard. He rose to the military rank of Master Sergeant, as a Logistics Management Specialist, in just 10 short years. Eric was a classic American Airman. He loved his country, his state and his unit. He had passion for people and a drive and skill to execute his career missions with flawless accuracy and efficiency, being recognized and respected for this frequently. Beyond this he was the kind of man that everyone knew and loved on base.  He was known for his smile, generosity and willingness to drop everything and help someone in need.

In his personal life, Eric enjoyed physical activity and was a fitness instructor in the community. During his high school years he was an accomplished wrester holding a multitude of titles and earning a record for takedowns. He loved pushing the limits of his body, becoming an avid runner and even building obstacles, like salmon ladders, in his back yard just for the challenge. He worked hard to achieve new PRs in his PT tests on base, along with weight lifting and running goals off base. He was strong and fast and extremely capable physically.  He was also extremely smart and had a mathematical and logical mind. He loved a challenge of any kind and also loved to challenge just about anything.  He loved music, movies, playing cribbage and engaging in anything competitive and quick witted.

Eric loved spending time playing and adventuring with his family. He was an amazing, devoted father to his three young sons and stepfather to his two lovely girls.  He knew each of them for all of their uniqueness and took such care and time with each of them. He had such a way with children, animals too, and they just adored him in return.

Eric and his fiancé Sarah had a deep and contagiously happy love together. They were inseparable and utterly devoted to one another. They were married in heart despite life’s complicated struggles that prevented them from doing so on paper. Eric loved hard, which was his approach with everything in his life. He would comment that Sarah was his peace and passion…and he was certainly hers.

Eric had a way of bringing such an energy, humor and joy to his home and family, as well as to his friends and fellow airmen and women. With this said however, just under the surface was a dark struggle. One that Eric had battled for years. A friend from high school commented that he had weeks on end of bright highs, winning matches consistently and easily, being really social and attracting those around him like a magnet. In other stretches, she describe him to be in a quieter, closed off, darker place, not wanting to be around others. As career, family and responsibility added to Eric’s experience, while his successes continued to mount, the struggles remained, perhaps compounded. The waves of long, happy, positive times, and lower, quieter, withdrawn times continued.

Eric had focused goals set always, whether with his job, his fitness and health, his parenting or his relationship with his fiancé. He was goal oriented and put everything into striving toward them. He accomplished great things and yet was always striving for more. He found a lot of happiness and satisfaction in these achievements. He loved sharing the happiness it brought him with his family and friends. 

Looking back he was racing against something unseen. Only in little glimpses, in vulnerable times, did he reveal some of the reasons behind his drive; giving name to his fears, the impact of his experiences through life and what he called ‘demons’ that could be quieted, but never silenced. Eric’s pride in his career work (rightfully so) and unending love for his family and need to provide, deterred him in the end from seeking the help that he admitted he needed, for fear of losing his job and wit that his capacity to provide for those he loved the most. 

Eric tried desperately to protect his family, at one point months before he passed, moving out for a short time in order to ‘protect you (Sarah) and our children together’, saying ‘it is inevitable that I’m going to hurt you’. Very shortly he returned home expecting his action would have had him cast aside and yet being overwhelmingly surprised that the very opposite was true. 

Recognizing and accepting the unconditional love and support he had he returned home wanting to take steps to get well and address his financial stress. Even with the desire, full support, love and unending partnership to help him take the steps he wanted to climb out of his darkness, in the end it wasn’t enough. He still couldn’t see a way out, a way to stay. Eric succumbed to that darkness in his mind that he had tried for so very long to subdue and yet in his act he had those he loved the most at heart, wanting the very best for them. On July 13, 2018, on a beautifully, sunny, summer morning, Eric took his own life. He was 29 years old. 

Eric was a tremendously magnetic man. His reach was far and wide, loved by so many. He wore a smile, had dreams, set goals and achieved them and yet was struggling with some sort of undiagnosed depressive mental illness. He tried desperately to self medicate by staying physically healthy, eating right, exercising regularly and yet also tried to escape through other means that impacted his physical and mental health further. He tried desperately to do this on his own, keep this to himself. He was scared to bring his darkness fully to the light for fear of the repercussions, the perceptions, especially within the military, along with the pain it may bring to those he loved the most.

Since his death, because of him, the tragic loss of him, many conversations have started. The love people had for Eric continues through those conversations. Some have since been brave enough to bring their darkness to the light, 
talking openly about it to let others know they aren’t alone, 
to help them to see that support is there and can continue to carry them up, 
to seek the external support they need to improve their mental health and quality of life, 
to help them to see that to be human is to experience matters of mental health,
to experience matters of mental health is to be human, 
and in the most basic of ways to be compassionate and present to the fellow people around them.

Eric’s life and gifts,
(his heart and joy, intelligence and humor, achievements and strengths, compassion and vulnerability, his passion, his spirit and his love, to name a few)
will never be forgotten and will be carried on forever. He is loved beyond measure. 
Please take his story, carry it with you and care for someone in your life the way he would have. Help them to stay, even a little longer.
November 28, 1988-July 13, 2018

JOHN DOE   2030 – 2018

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