Say his name
My son
His name is Aaron
Aaron Alexander
Aaron Alexander Gorklo
My Amazing Aaron
Aaron died by suicide July 10 2016
His body is gone
His smile, his beautiful green eyes, his laugh, his hugs, his artistry, his love for country, his love for the military, his love for his family, his goofiness, his love of music, his love of history, his anger, his sadness, his thoughtfulness, his friendship, his happiness, his excitement
All Gone…
But…
He is still here
He is and always will be a part of me
I want to hear his name
I want to talk about him
I want people to mention him in passing
I want people to tell me stories about him
I want people to think about him
I want people to love him
I want people to remember him
I want people to ask me about him
No one does…
They are afraid to upset me
They are afraid I will cry
It does and I will
See I am upset every day
I still cry pretty much every day
My Aaron is gone
That doesn’t change
But Aaron matters
Aaron’s memory matters
I want to cry
I want to remember
Say his name…
Keeping Aaron's Memory Alive 
Wendy, your son Aaron is a beautiful young man. I pray for his brother, Jack, and for you, in your amazing love and your mission to spread the word about suicide. My son (18) lost a classmate to suicide a couple of weeks ago. We must find ways to help our young people, and get rid of the stigma about mental illness and suicide. Your willingness to speak up and speak out, in memory of Aaron, is awesome. I saw a spot this morning on our local NBC affiliate, KSDK-TV, in St. Louis, MO, about the program to give dogs to vets with PTSD. I have written Beres Haus this morning to find out how to donate to this amazing program that you and they have started together, in memory of your dear Aaron. As one mom to another, I want to lift you up and support you, and to honor your beautiful Aaron. Please know you are loved and BOTH your boys are loved, and there is a network of love and support out here that will only get wider. You are inspiring. I want to help you in your efforts, in whatever way I can! Thank you for your courage. Gail Hintz, St. Louis, MO
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Gail – thank you so much for your kind words. You are absolutely right that we do need to help. I am trying to find the best ways to help and thanks to Bev and her program I am able to participate in something wonderful to help our veterans. I will continue to advocate to help remove the stigmas of mental illness and suicide and I am grateful that you are as well. I am sorry about your son’s classmates – when I hear of these tragedies it reminds me to work harder and keep telling my Amazing Aaron’s story. Thank you so very much – you have inspired me 🙂 Much love to you!
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Wendy, thank you, and even though I don’t know you personally, you have shared your heart with so many now, and shared your forever love for your dear Aaron. I can’t imagine how hard this week must have been for you, because I know how anniversaries can be really, really hard. I had two anniversaries myself this week that were painful (the wedding anniversary of my marriage that just ended, and the anniversary of my mom’s death a few years ago). Loss is the worst. Loss of a child has to be THE WORST EVER. I find it inspiring that you are “learning to live in grief” — I have never heard that said that way before, but it must be the way every parent feels who have lost a child. Are you able to see my email address? (I filled into a box below, but I don’t know that you see that.) I would love to stay in touch via email or Facebook, because we just have to find more ways to help our kids who are struggling, before situations escalate to tragedy. We must get better at this. I am writing our Board of Education today, to urge increased free access to professionals at our local schools (unfortunately, our district seems to be spreading the help thinner, not providing more help and access for kids, right where they are and when they need it — but I know that input from enough parents could potentially get the Board to look at making different choices on these resources). Please keep in touch, if you would like to (on FB, I am Gail Andrews Hintz, if you’d like to friend me there). No matter what, take care, and know that you and Amazing Aaron and also your son Jack are very much loved.
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You are very sweet Gail – thank you for all your kind words. I am sorry you had a rough week as well. Thank you for reaching out and I am glad I found you on Facebook.
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