It's Time to Make a Difference. Too many suffer in silence until it is too late.

On October 1, 2016, our family’s faith was shaken and our world turned upside down when we received news that our son Conner had died by suicide. If you’ve never lost a loved one to suicide, you cannot imagine the pain and the intensity of the emotional roller coaster that comes with it. It’s crippling…it’s agonizing…it’s terrifying…it’s the worst possible thing that one could ever go through.

Conner was 17 years old. He was insanely handsome, was a fantastic athlete, and a good student. Conner was a son, a brother, a grandson, a nephew, a cousin and a friend. Conner was sweet, generous, loving, kind, smart (and smart-assed!), witty and hilarious. Conner was a piece of the puzzle that makes up our great big family, and without his piece we are no longer whole. It’s true, the rest of us are strong and are holding our pieces together so firmly as not to fall apart, but we were much stronger when his piece was in place.

There are many more stories like this in our community. Stories ended too soon.

While we have lost Conner, we have chosen to not have his death be in vain. We know that we are not the first ones to suffer such a loss. We also know that this type of loss is becoming all to frequent and seemingly unprovoked or "out of the blue". Taking Conner’s memory and turning our loss into something positive, this is the ConnerStrong way. We cannot change the world by ourselves, but just like the butterfly effect, a small flutter of a butterfly’s wings can make a difference in the world.