MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – September 8th through September 14th is National Suicide Prevention Week. According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, 45% of suicide victims were in contact with their doctors within one month of suicide.
One Myrtle Beach woman is raising awareness, letting people know it’s okay to talk about suicide, six years after her dad took his own life.
For Jamie Yarborough, her dad Ricky was the best of the best.
“He was, you know, the world’s greatest dad,” she said.
Ricky Yarborough lived in Effingham, was a dedicated worker at McLeod Health, and spent his free time doing what he loved, revamping old cars.
“I always tell people, I had such a cool childhood because either, one weekend I’d be playing tennis, the next weekend I was at a car show with him,” Jamie said. “My dad never not placed in a car show.”
Jamie’s dad Ricky seemed to have the picture perfect life, but on the inside he struggled with depression.
Jamie remembers one summer day in particular in 2013.
“I was going to go show my dad my pictures from Europe that I had printed off that day, and I got in the middle of my driveway, and something told me that I did not need to go home yet,” she said.
When Jamie saw a hearse and several Florence police cars going down her driveway, she knew it wasn’t a good sign. That August night, her grandfather told her the news, that her dad had took his own life.
Jamie’s using her experience to help others recognize the signs, and she and her fiance, Daniel, created a video as a starting point.
She says use the acronym FACTS, which stands for looking at someone’s feelings, actions, changes, threats and situations to know if someone needs help.
“If you have any type of tug or pull in your heart that someone you know or someone you love is having those inclinations to do that, please go and say something, because time does run out,” Jamie said.