Photo Credit Gerry Broome/Associated Press

I'm happy to see the New York Times, CNN and other major news outlets giving this some coverage. The brain, mental health, and relating problems is an area that we understand far too little of. When Dave killed himself 3 months ago it came as a shock to many. It brought out a mixed range of emotions from people. In spite of the loss, and grief associated with it, there was at least one thing positive gained in the aftermath. Dialogue. Mental health is something we seem to know little about. It's confusing, many times it brings up less than happy thoughts. There are plenty of reasons we could think of to skip the discussion, to avoid the issue. It can be uncomfortable, painful, scary, to talk about. The demons lurking in our heads, their causes, and ultimately the problems they can lead to. Dave Mirra was an amazing athlete. He inspired so many people over his career. Unfortunately, nobody is invincible. Nobody is immune to these problems. Even if you're the happiest person on earth, have never had a head injury, you are not immune. Mental health problems, isolate individuals. It's looked at as a personal struggle. The problem with that is that it's an issue that can impact anyone. Maybe it's cheesy and heading for a hallmark store near you, but we are all connected. The struggles your friends, family, and neighbors are facing can impact you. With all of our incredible advances in science, I hope that we will see some more dialogue, some more research, and some serious leaps in progress. Whether concussions, depression, or anything else is pushing people past the edge, its sucks, and ignoring it is the last thing we should do. I dream of a day where we don't have to worry about shit like this. It may never happen, but a dream's a dream and it sure would be nice. Too many good people gone too soon. RIP

Some of today's press on the subject.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/25/sports/dave-mirra-cte-bmx.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

http://espn.go.com/action/story/_/id/15613973/dave-mirra-hero-death-cte-arrival-lauren-mirra

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/24/health/dave-mirra-cte-bmx-biker/index.html?sr=fbCNN052416dave-mirra-cte-bmx-biker1154PMStoryGalLink&linkId=24843263

A piece I wrote up shortly after his death 3 months ago.

http://www.newschoolers.com/news/read/Saying-Goodby-ve-Met

Support if you or a friend are struggling with suicidal thoughts or dealing with a suicide.

https://afsp.org/find-support/