The Forrest Gump of Suicide Prevention-Meet Ireland's Colm Farrel

Colm Farrel (his friends call him Haz, as in “Hazard”) is the Forrest Gump of Suicide Prevention. You've probably never heard of him because like Forrest Gump, Colm's a simple guy in a small town with a big heart who follows his instincts, doing the right thing when it needs to be done, without having to be asked, without applause. Like Forrest, Colm's easy-going, with a big, courageous heart the size of Ireland. He'd give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. Four years ago, Colm found out second-hand that a good friend had committed suicide not long after he'd last talked with him. At the time, Colm didn't know much about suicide, and although he knew his friend was down and had mentioned dying, Colm thought it was the passing comment of a discouraged man. "He was wealthy, and had a wonderful wife and children-he had everything to live for." Now he wished he had said something that would have made a difference. "If I knew then what I know now, I would have asked if he was feeling suicidal," he says. Like Colm, I too wish and regret that I didn't say and do more to prevent my 15-year old daughter from taking her life as the result of severe depression. Feelings of guilt and regret are the most common theme shared by suicide survivors.

To make matters worse, just two weeks later, another close friend gave up and took his own life. That's when Colm decided he had to do something to stop Ireland's high suicide rate. "There are 1,200 suicides a year in Ireland," Colm explained. "On a small Isle of 4.5 million people, that's a big problem. Plus 50% of suicides are recorded as death due to other reasons. One has to wonder if it's a bit of a cover-up." He got out a map, and began circling counties. The first time Colm set off by himself was in May of 2011, with only a "rucksack" on his back, and a few dollars in his pocket. He walked half of Ireland. He had to leave his family behind-two older sons, and his teen daughter, which he said was the hardest thing he's ever done. "My 13 year old daughter walked the first few miles with me, then I was on my own." With no sponsors, and only his Facebook friends to cheer him on, he didn't stop until he'd raised awareness about suicide, and people started donating money to the Irish national suicide prevention charity, Console. He walked 3,000 miles, naming his cause, "The Hazwalk." 

After he'd been back home awhile, a man in his town challenged him, saying, "If you were a true Irishman, you would have walked all of Ireland!" He decided right then, in November of 2011, to walk again-this time all 32 counties, which meant he'd be on the road for 150 days. "My daughter took it the hardest," he admits. "But it was something I just had to do."

When he returned home in March, thinner and exhausted, home never looked so good. "My daughter was so happy to see me, but things weren't the same. It was difficult." Colm figured that would be the end of his travels; he'd accomplished what he had set out to do. Life was quiet until 2013 when people in the United Kingdom, Ireland's neighboring country, heard about Colm. He received 106 Facebook messages, each promising they would donate money to his charity if he would walk all 86 counties in the UK. How could Forrest (I mean, Colm) resist?

On July 25, 2013, Ireland's Forrest Gump pulled on his walking shoes for the last time, shouldered his "rucksack," and started his 5,000 mile journey in Scotland. This time he had 66 pounds in his pocket. When he said goodbye to his daughter, there was a terrible lump in his throat. Still, the thought of his friend's deaths urged him on. "I was surprised to find that everywhere I went, people confessed to me that they'd felt depression, and had thought of suicide." Colm says 12,000 people die by suicide in the UK every year. "Suicide leaves a trail of destruction. I also heard stories from suicide survivors, and the hardships they endured. When I was missing home-my daughter and sons, I'd post on Facebook while I walked. My supporters kept me going. I couldn't let them down." He walked at least 15 miles a day, sometimes twenty plus, in every kind of harsh weather imaginable. When he was exhausted, lonely and felt like giving up, Colm says he coached himself. "I talked out loud to myself a lot," he admits (kind of like another Tom Hanks movie, Castaway, where he talks to his soccer ball for company). He endured many hardships-terribly painful shin splints: "Like a dagger," he says. And once a stranger threatened to find him and run him over with his car. Many nights he sat on the side of the road until 3am before someone offered him a place to stay. "It was my rule never, ever to ask anyone for housing. When I came into town, I just waited till someone offered me a room. Sometimes it was a close call, but I never broke that rule. And I never asked for a meal. People just fed me." When I asked Colm what was most memorable for him, he didn't recount the hardships. "This walk proved to me that there's so much good out there. I never once went hungry. And people were always donating a little money here and there, just enough to keep me going-strangers! The world is full of good people."

I asked Colm what waits on the horizon for him, now that he's kept the promise that he made to himself, to honor the memory of his friends by walking all of Ireland and the United Kingdom? "Who knows-maybe a book," he says with a grin in his voice. "I've got a lot more to say." I don't doubt for a minute that whatever Colm Farrel sets his mind to, he will do-just as Forrest did. Run, Colm, run!       

To contact Colm: Facebook www.facebook.com/Hazwalk or on twitter Colm Farrell @haz66

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