Reflecting on Our First Year

In March of 2023, I was told one night that someone close to me had attempted suicide. I was made aware of this four days after this attempt. I remember sitting there that Saturday night, frustrated that I was not told, but in the end, I realized that those who kept it from me only wanted to make sure it did not affect my mental health negatively. The fear of it affecting me negatively was a fair and common assumption. However, I was not okay with it because I felt a sense of guilt because I felt that if I had done more to make the story more well-known, maybe it could have prevented this person from doing so. By saying this, I by no means want to take away from this person’s decision. It is a personal choice, and no one can take that away from you nor should they. I woke up that Sunday morning, prior to driving to see this person, and I felt this push to try and make a difference. If there is such a thing as God working through you, I am almost positive this was it. I woke up with this sense of exhaustion because once again, mental health was affecting those I cared about and those I loved. I sat on my bed before the drive and decided, “I’m going to start a foundation.” I simply googled, “how to start a charity?” Google came back with first, you have to have a goal. I decided I wanted this foundation to highlight the struggles of those who had attempted but not completed suicide. Upon getting up and starting my drive, I began searching the web for anything that dealt with this matter. I was truly surprised. I found that there were numerous, amazing foundations that dealt with prevention and healing after completion, but nothing that I found dealt with the person that attempted and how you move on.

When I decided to start the Comeback Story Foundation, I wanted to give a voice to those who had attempted but not completed suicide. Although after my first attempt, I was led to believe and convinced myself it was an accident, I now know that although that first attempt may have been influenced by medication, that medication only heightened thoughts that were already in my head. That became very apparent after my second attempt. Having this insight, I felt compelled to try and help in some way, shape, or form. I put my story out there for the world to see. Sometimes a bit raw, but at the end of the day, it was honest. Since then, with every post I have made, I know that it brings to light a lot of dark times in my past. It has also worried many friends and family of the state I am in currently. I have constantly had to reassure family and friends that any I say in posts is solely a recollection of what I have been through. It’s not my current state. I am strong enough now—that if I ever find myself in that dark place again, I know that I can reach out to multiple people to find help. The goal of the posts is to provide insight into my mind during those times. My hope is that with each post, someone out there can relate and it gives them comfort knowing that they’re not alone in their thoughts. When I launched the foundation, my mom told me, “Clark, you may never know how many people you touch with your story, but one day, you’re going to meet someone who tells you what it meant to them, and it will all be worth it. “ That moment happened within the first week of the launch.

In our first year, the Comeback Story Foundation has received an incredible amount of support. From the very beginning, we received messages of support and numerous donations. I am often surprised when people I do not know all that well say to me “I have been following what you’re doing, and I think it’s amazing.” I have sadly been reassured of the need for this foundation through several people confiding in me they, too, were trying to come back from an attempt. All this support has truly been amazing. Through generous donations throughout our first year and our tee shirt sales, the Comeback Story has raised over 7,000 dollars in an effort to bring this side of mental health to light. Despite this first year being focused on outreach and awareness, we were able to do a distribution to MUSC with the purpose of helping improve inpatient facilities. This was an amazing opportunity to partner with MUSC due to one of the initial goals of this foundation being to help make these facilities more inviting and recovery stimulating.

Looking back on this first year personally, I am filled with a sense of gratitude for the support I have been given. When I launched this foundation, a lot of people would say, “This took a lot of courage,” or reference my vulnerability. Initially, I never really put all that much importance on the courage and vulnerability I expressed. This story has been my life for four years now, so I always just felt I was being myself. What I did not realize is that when I made my life story known to the masses, it took a toll. I sometimes questioned if I was really helping or simply blogging about my own struggles. I go back and forth on whether I am truly helping. Also (me being an impatient person), I wanted this foundation to start making a difference in a big way, right away.

When I did a podcast earlier this year, I expressed that because I launched at the end of 2023, I thought that 2024 was going to be a big year for the foundation. Although not as big of a year as I hoped, I often have to remind myself that one, I am basically one person doing this while maintaining a full-time job, and two, I started something that was not out there a year ago. Do I wish we had fundraising events and could have done more distributions to organizations with similar missions? Absolutely. What I have to remind myself is that this year was about providing a voice for those who struggle quietly or publicly with a previous attempt.

My hope for this past year was that someone out there read a post or visited the website and realized they were not alone in their thoughts. As 2025 approaches, we hope to build on this voice and continue to raise awareness but also do more in partnering with other organizations. Just like life, there is no reason to go at it alone, so I hope to find organizations to collaborate with and help support through distributions. Our initial effort to do this will be the inaugural Comeback Story Foundation Gala in March of 2025. The focus of this gala will not only be to garner financial support for our efforts, but I also hope to be able to acknowledge people who have contributed to my comeback, whether it be doctors, friends, or family. I will be turning 30 in March, and after discussing it with others involved in this organization, we could not think of a better opportunity to make a big push to go out and try to achieve

this foundation’s goals.

In closing, I want all the supporters of this foundation to know that we would not have made it through our first year without all of you. Whether it was financial support, texts of encouragement, or even ideas on how to help, you all pushed me to keep going.

Thank you,

Clark Hickerson
Founder