CLARENCE, N.Y. — A Clarence woman is preparing for the trip of a lifetime, to deliver a message and a legacy.
Debbie Curtis will be riding her bike across the country in honor of the son she lost too soon, Brock Wesley Curtis.
"Brock is, I think, what anybody would define as pretty much the all American kid. He was very athletic, played on all the teams in school." Debbie adds that he was also fond of the outdoors and loved to travel.
On the outside, he may have appeared to be the all American kid, but on the inside, he was battling something that is all too common in America.
"He started to have some mental health issues. One of the things that I found out is that mental illness is most problematic and most dangerous in the age group that affected him." Debbie says that Brock's struggles continued into college and he was ultimately diagnosed as bipolar one.
Debbie says Brock was embarrased by his illness. He was just 24 when the unthinkable occurred. Brock's life ended on January 12, 2021 at Niagara Falls.
Debbie says they will never know if it was intentional or a psychotic episode, but either way she has made it her mission to spread awareness and understanding about mental illness.
"Mental health today is getting a lot more acceptance, but people that have some more serious mental health, it still has a stigma attached to it."
Debbie is taking to the highway to do what she can to try to remove that stigma. She figured walking across the U.S. might take too long, so instead she is going by bike.
She will begin her recent retirement from Niagara University by taking a more than 50 day bicycle ride coast-to-coast.
"A lot of my preperation has been the planning, I am going by myself. I'm not going with a group or have a van follow behind me, so it'll be a pretty big adventure."
An adventure she will begin March 10th in San Diego, making stops to visit relatives in Denver and Pittsburgh, before wrapping upand finally touching the Atlantic in New York City.
I asked her if her family was worried about that.
"A little I'd say, my brothers, my kids, my husband all said, what if you fall? I've got the watch that is supposed to let you know if you had a hard fall. But people can track me, so I'm sure if my family sees I haven't moved in a couple days they'll come find me."
Along the way Debbie will be accepting donations, with all of the money going to support suicide prevention efforts and provide assistance for those impacted by mental illness and to spread the message that she hopes will be Brock's legacy, "people aren't alone and health is health."
You can get more information and keep up with Debbie's progress at 4Team Brock.