Learning Experience #2: Cameron's Christmas

On the topic of suicide in class yesterday, I came across a post that I thought that I needed to share with the class. One of the organizations that I am involved with on campus is To Write Love on Her Arms, which is also a national organization that you may have heard of. Basically, the national non-profit organization fights for the destigmatization of mental illness and through that generates revenue that they put directly into treatment and recovery for those that are struggling. 

This story started out as just a recovery program for a friend. *TRIGGER WARNING: ADDICTION AND SELF HARM** Renee was heavily involved with drugs and alcohol and she had a history of self injury. Her friends urged her to get help to which she refused. The night that they convinced Renee to get help, she had self-harmed severely. They had taken to her to a rehab center that refused her. To them, she was deemed as “too great a risk” to take on as a patient. The center told her friends to give them five days. If, in those five days, they were able to keep drugs out of Renee’s system, she would be admitted. In the days that followed, her friends became her church. Renee always found salvation in music so they took her to as many concerts as possible. They star-gazed with her and watched the sunset together with her. After those five days, Renee was able to get the help she needed and has been sober ever since. One of the friends that helped her, Jamie Tworkowski, realized that this isn’t just Renee’s story. Thousands of people must struggle with these issues every day and struggle to get help. To fight against that, he created To Write Love on Her Arms.

Every day, the national organization receives hundreds of e-mails that they read and respond to. Sometimes those e-mails are sent with very heavy hearts, and sometimes they are sent with hope. This e-mail they received was sent with both. The message was sent by a mother whose child committed suicide a few months ago. The holidays coming up will be the first that they will be without him, so they wanted to make it special. The mother prefaced the e-mail by saying that they have always been a stocking stuffer family. She didn’t know what to do with Cameron’s stocking. She didn’t want to not put it up, but she didn’t think she could bear it if it wasn’t getting filled like the rest of her children’s. She then thought of an idea. 

She wants others to do random acts of kindness and then write about it. After that, she wants them to send their family a card with the written description of what they did and she will use those to stuff Cameron’s stocking. She will not read them beforehand, but on Christmas day, the family will read all of the post cards together and see the positive impact Cameron had on other people even in death. 

The truth is, sometimes we never know the reason that others commit suicide, just like the man in the story. They could be struggling with unimaginable things. These random acts of kindness will not only keep Cameron’s memory alive, they may be just the thing that helps others get through the day. I urge you to participate. Below is the mailing address that Cameron’s family would like you to send your messages to:

Cameron’s Stocking
c/o Lou Brandt
10 Railroad Place
Norwich Ct. 06360
OR email it to:
CameronsStocking@gmail.com