With the recent losses of some of our most beloved artists and tastemakers, Avicci, Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain (to name a few), it touches close to home for me with the loss of my younger brother in 2016. Having been by my brothers side for years trying to provide the support and love he needed during his battle with bi-polar and depression my heart physically aches for all the families and friends of each person that loses their battle to suicide.
It took a long time for me to truly wrap my head around the fact that suffering with bi-polar and depression is almost like any other terminal illness that no one ever asks for like Cancer or Heart Disease. Just as cancer attacks certain organs of the body making those organs not able to function properly, these serious illnesses such as bi-polar are very much the same. The brain has the inability to function properly and the physiology of the brain is damaged. Like my brother, these people search endlessly for a cure of medications and therapies that help make them function like the rest of us with the desperate desire to feel normal.
In part of understanding this terrible disease and bringing awareness to the root cause of suicide, my family and I donate yearly, on my brother's birthday, to the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation to help support the research and science that it takes to cure this life-threatening disease.
In support of National Suicide Prevention Week, taking place Sept 9-15th, we will be making a donation for every wedding dress we sell during the month of September on behalf of our Kelly Faetanini brides.
To any of our beautiful brides who have lost someone to suicide or will be walking down the aisle without a loved one, you are not alone. We love you. And to anyone who needs someone to talk to or knows someone who might need help, we encourage you to call the Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or visit www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
Keep smiling!
