Man and His Basset Hound Cycling To Boost Awareness

Antigone is ready for the next stretch of the bicycle trek from Chicago to San Francisco. (Marci Stenberg, Merced Sun-Star)

In “Man and Dog Peddling a Message: Against Suicide and for Basset Hound Rescue,” Merced Sun-Star reporter Carol Reiter writes about Marshall Lee’s and his dog Antigone’s cross-country journey to promote sucide prevention (and Bassett Hound rescue, as well).

The pair will cross the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco early this week to conclude a 3,500-plus mile journey that began in Chicago last October. In the video accompanying the story, Marshall Lee describes the insidiousness of depression and suicide:

Depression eats at you nibble by nibble … It doesn’t … just attack full on. [At first] it had been an occasional thought, “Maybe you should kill yourself.” Then … when unemployments was running out, I was losing my apartment, and I had no place to go, and didn’t know waht to do, that’s when the depression really hit hard, and that’s when the suicidal thoughts came every day …

However, according to the Sun-Star report,

Worries about what would happen to his dog after his death stopped Lee numerous times from carrying through with his suicide plans.

“This cute, sweet dog gave me the ability to say no to suicide,” Lee said.

Lee is asking people to take part in the annual American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Out of the Darkness Overnight Walk, which is in Boston this year on the night of June 26-27. According to AFSP,

The Out of the Darkness Overnight is an 18-mile journey through the night, from dusk until dawn. It’s a unique opportunity to bring the issues of depression and suicide into the light as we walk together to turn heartbreak into hope for tomorrow.

Walker registration is open and general donations to the walk are being accepted.

For updates to this story, see “Antigone Goes West: A Basset Blog.”

[The abridged URL for this post is http://tinyurl.com/ManHoundCycling .]

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