A Lexington woman who's a communicator by trade, finds herself on a quest to spread a different kind of message, one of hope and help for those dealing with mental health challenges or crises.

Tina Bryson lost her 20 year old son Quinton to suicide almost two years ago.

She says her grief journey has evolved from disbelief and constant questioning to advocacy and helping to spare other parents the pain she's endured.

As the month of September comes to a close.

So does the heightened recognition of suicide prevention.

For those like Tina, her mission to save lives is year round.

She talked with us yesterday about her son, Quentin, and the work she's doing and his memory.

Tell us about your son, Quentin.

Oh, my gosh.

My first vow of silence.

Lots of energy.

Always, always, always bouncing off of everything.

I always had a sense of humor, a wicked sense of humor.

Wicked sense of humor.

So just if I was thinking of of a fictional character would be low key.

So, no, but also just very talented in terms of his acting.

And I remember one time he decided he was going to work on his Australian accent and he would only talk, and I'll say, and I had to.

You cannot go to school every day.

And he would only answer you in the Australian thing and embarrass you very seriously.

So yeah, so those are the things I remember about him.

Can you tell us about how you learned that he had died and by how he'd passed?

Yeah.

So crazy thing was we had gone to church that morning.

Great service.

I was feeling like on such a super high.

And I remember just coming home and thinking, I'm going to just knock out a little bit of work.

I was sitting in my office and I saw a police car pull up in front of the house.

So your first start as a parent is what's going on.

And they come to the door.

So you you know, you come downstairs and he says he introduced himself and said the Greensburg police Department asked me to call you.

I'm thinking he's going to say he's been arrested.

He's been in a car accident, something along those lines.

And so he says, here's a number to the detective.

And I called, you know, called and my daughter was home.

She goes to the same college in North Carolina, North Carolina, and in Greensboro.

She was home on winter break.

Christmas.

It was a couple of days the 17th, so the week before Christmas.

So I had him on speaker phone and call the detective and he just started out with, I'm sorry, we think we found your son.

And he had a very distinct high school graduation ring, a high school ring.

And I just grabbed the ring and he just said, you know, we're going to wait for confirmation.

And, you know, your whole world just crumbles from there.

And immediately we just said we got to get to Greensboro.

My older siblings, he has another brother here in Lexington, a brother that was in lives in Louisville, but happened to be in Tennessee at the time.

And he just said, I'll meet you, meet you there.

And then the whole family just went to Greensboro.

And I think there's a little bit of what you heard about hope, but you kind of know and you're kind of like trying to prepare yourself for getting there and then dealing with and then it's just in all the questions that flood you after the idea that all the whys, all the whys and that's the big question is why when young man that had so much promise, so much vitality, so much life and can you talk about where his journey had been?

Did you suspect that he was dealing with mental health challenges?

No, not at all.

And that was I think that was like the most confusing thing, because I had actually talked to him the night before.

We were planning a big trip for the family.

We're going to Ghana.

It was my 55th birthday, so I was calling to make sure all the kids like you got your passport and we had to have like special shots for different things.

And I was like, Did you have your COVID?

You had to have your car back in the back.

Yeah.

So I was just making sure he had everything.

And, you know, we were talking just like a regular conversation.

Yeah, I'm going to see you on Wednesday.

So this was a Saturday night.

I got home with him about 11:00 and he hangs up.

And just as I'm hanging up, I hear him like saying goodbye.

I love you.

And I hung up like I hung up as he was singing.

Then I'm like, Oh, I think he was.

I think he was saying, I love you.

Bye.

So I send my texts, said, I think I hung up on you.

So I just wanted to tell you I love you so much.

I love you more than you ever know.

I'm super proud of you and all that you've accomplished.

And just know that hard work pays off because he had been doing so well.

And I just want to just feel that need to give him that for some.

Yeah.

That reinforcement, that affirmation that you're doing a phenomenal job.

He had just been cast in the upcoming production of AT&T for their spring show.

He was a semifinalist for a Disney scholarship.

And so all these scenes were on the things with honor roll.

So I was doing well in school.

I found a job and you just look like he just it just felt like he had found his place.

It just seemed like his star was just rising.

And to get that call, like, you couldn't really even process like what was going on.

We were walking to his apartment.

His bed was made, as you know, a college kid Like that's not as you know, they all of his clothes were washed, embodied on top of the washing machine.

Everything was neatly stacked in his room and his blanket had a blanket from when he was like a little baby boy blankie.

And he he always loved blankety blank blanket was spread out on the bed.

And to me, it just looked like he was like, I'm I'm done.

I'm finished.

But you try to figure out, well, how can you can you bring good from it?

Can you spotlight it?

Can you encourage other parents to have those conversations to check on your kids, especially because he was out of state?

And so things that they tell you look for changes in their behavior.

Look for if they're given away, they belong with, well, day to day, you're not interacting when they get so used to know.

Yeah.

And so what kind of conversations can you have?

And I think that's the great thing about spotlighting suicide prevention in this month is giving people a chance to think like, I should be having that conversation.

Don't be afraid to ask your kids how they feel.

And I think if there's one thing that I took from the from Quentin, it's when I talk to my other three children, when I ask them how they're doing, like not just like how a school and how it's working, but it's really stuff to say to them, No, I really mean, how are you doing?

I tell me how you feel and what's going on with you, because I think it's easy to get into the How are the things right, but not how are you.

I think that that's an important thing to take away.

I know as a person of faith, for me, I believe that we'll see Quentin again in heaven.

And so that gives me comfort.

We had lost two babies prior to that for to prematurity.

And so I just like now I one day I'm going to see them all again in my dad.

And, you know, different people have gone before.

And I think that that brings me some kind of peace.

But I also I really do believe that there that when ever hard things happen to you, if you could help someone else, I think it helps part of the healing.

Like if the purpose it's like if I can bring purpose from that by helping another family not have to go through it because they had that conversation, then to me, that's a way to honor Quentin.

The Bryson's have started a scholarship in their son's name at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University to help students like Quentin pursuing the performing arts.

They hope to establish a similar high school scholarship at the Carter G. Woodson Academy in Lexington, where he was a student.

If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, you can call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at nine, eight, eight.