A Heartbreaking Cycle: Two Lives Lost to the Silent Struggle of Suicide

On April 14, 2025, I lost my oldest brother, Chris. His death by suicide left an indelible mark on our family. Chris wasn’t just my brother; he was a father to Cayden and Ashton, two children who loved him deeply. We all hoped that, in time, we could heal from the pain of his loss, but what we didn’t know was that this pain was only the beginning of a much darker journey.

Seven months later, on November 14, 2025, Cayden, Chris’s 17-year-old son, took his own life. Exactly seven months to the day. My heart breaks for Cayden, who couldn’t escape the same agony that had taken his father. His pain was invisible to so many of us, even as we tried desperately to reach him, to help him, to guide him through his suffering. But despite all the support, despite all the love, Cayden followed in his father’s footsteps, leaving behind a hole in our family that words cannot describe.

The Unseen Burden of Grief: When Suicide Doesn’t End the Suffering, It Passes It On

When someone takes their life, they don’t end their suffering—they pass it on to everyone who loved them. That’s the cruel truth about suicide: it doesn’t end the pain. It only transforms it into something different. Something that we, the survivors, are left to carry.

Chris’s death devastated Cayden, but I believe that no matter how much support we offered, his grief was too heavy a burden to bear. He loved his father, and he missed him in ways that were impossible for us to truly understand. Despite the many people who tried to help him—family, friends, counselors—the weight of his sorrow became too much. The suffering that Chris had passed on to him, unknowingly, was a chain that Cayden couldn’t break.

As a family, we feel the loss in every corner of our lives. But no one feels it more than Ashton, who has now lost both her father and her brother. This tragedy, this heartache, is more than just a loss of life. It is the loss of dreams, of futures that will never come to pass. It is the loss of hope for healing, of the comfort that time would eventually bring. Instead, we are left with the painful knowledge that the agony they felt is now our own to endure.

Praying for Strength: Carrying Their Legacy Forward with Love and Hope

The pain that comes with losing two loved ones to suicide is something no one should have to face. But here we are. In the days since Cayden’s death, our family has been surrounded by an outpouring of love, and yet, nothing can truly heal the brokenness we feel. In this moment of darkness, we have to hold onto one thing: the love we shared with Chris and Cayden. That love is not gone, though they are.