Published in 2017, What Made Maddy Run chronicles with painstaking detail the life of student-athlete Madison Holleran who died in 2014 by suicide. Maddy was a gifted athlete and academic who started her freshman year at her dream school, Ivy league University of Pennsylvania. The author, Kate Fagan, was granted full access to Maddy’s phone, computer, friends, and family in hopes of bringing understanding and change to a topic which was once taboo to speak about, suicide.
The author herself was an elite college athlete and is not
afraid to draw parallels between her thoughts and feelings, and Maddy’s. She
brings in enough research and findings to legitimize her points about social
media, the pressure on young athletes, and “destructive perfectionism,” without
simplifying the multitude of factors that come to together in what some call “a
perfect storm,” that can result in someone taking their own life.
This book is a painful, devastating read, but important for
those of us who seek answers about the causes and hence the prevention of
suicide. It doesn’t conclude with easy answers, but suggestions about how to
talk to others about their pain and our own. It is honest, it is brutal, and it
is important.
Kate Fagan will be speaking at Bridgeway’s Discover Wellness
Summit, a free event at Carl Sandburg College September 23, 2022. Registration
can be found at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/discover-wellness-summit-2022-tickets-328123695807.
The Macomb/McDonough County Out of the Darkness Walk will
take place October 1, 2022 at Macomb City Hall, register at www.afsp.org/macombil. Immediate
assistance if you are experiencing suicidal thoughts is available by calling or
texting 988.
