Rethinking a Taboo Subject
Kevin Betts
Kevin Betts, 27, from Brighton, England, is running a marathon every weekend in 2011. That's right: 52 races totaling 1,362.4 miles. And by the way, he's vowed to do each of them in under four hours, or it won't count.
The goal of Betts' marathon odyssey is to raise funds and awareness for Rethink Mental Illness, a mental health charity in the UK, and the Survivors of Suicide group in Brighton, a cause that's close to his heart. "I'm a survivor of suicide," Betts writes on his website. "By that, I mean that someone close to me—my dad—committed suicide when I was 19. It was obviously a hard time."
Betts became depressed, gave up sports, gained weight, and lost motivation. "I really didn't try very hard at anything," he admits. However, he thought about the good things in his life—his job, his fiancée (now wife), his dog, his home—and about his desire to make meaningful contributions to worthy causes. (He's also donating a portion of the money he's raising to Passingiton, a Brighton-based charity dedicated to improving the lives of children in Africa.) Slowly, his outlook—and health—improved.
Betts also wants to create more openness around the topic of suicide. "Suicide is such a taboo subject," he writes. "Those who attempt it, those who are bereaved by it, carry a stigma. I want to raise awareness of something that should be talked about openly and without whispers."
An education counselor, Betts is paying his own way on his marathon quest, though one of his Twitter followers was so inspired by his story that she sent him a plane ticket. He and the benefactor have made plans to have dinner together in NYC the night before the marathon.
