Suicide survivors join teleconference Saturday

Linda Fleming knows the pain that suicide inflicts on survivors. It began when suicide claimed the life of her oldest son, Travis Moser.

A highly intelligent young man, Moser graduated in 1990 from Columbia Falls High School. At just 17, he was nominated to the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Moser successfully completed the academy in 1994. But in April 1996, Fleming learned that her son had died from suicide.

Though years have passed, the pain remains for Fleming. She has found comfort, however, through a local support group and a teleconference for survivors like the one scheduled Saturday in Kalispell.

Registration begins at 9 a.m. for the 10 a.m. conference linking suicide survivors in 111 cities across the United States and one in Canada.

Scheduled for the conference room at Flathead County Health Department on First Avenue West, the event includes a discussion and refreshments when the teleconference ends at 11:30 a.m.

The nationwide gathering marks the seventh annual observation of National Survivors of Suicide Day.

Fleming encourages all survivors of suicide, including family, friends and co-workers, to participate.

"When I attended the teleconference in Great Falls, it was very helpful to me," she said.

This year's event, broadcast live from New York, features a panel of medical experts and suicide survivors offering information as well as a healing exchange of personal stories.

Fleming said the Kalispell site, one of six in Montana, will display the Montana "Faces of Suicide Quilt."

"Several people in the Flathead Valley made memorial squares," she said.

According to Fleming, meeting other survivors alleviated the isolation she felt as she coped with the overpowering emotions triggered by her loss. The stories she heard at the earlier teleconference never left her.

One woman told of her sister who took her own life on the same date that her mother died by suicide several years earlier. A man faced accusations of murder after finding his wife dead from self-inflicted knife wounds.

These Montanans are just a few of the lives devastated each year by suicide. The state ranks second or third in the nation in the number of suicides per capita.

"Every 48 hours in Montana, someone dies by suicide," she said.

Since losing her son, Fleming has worked in suicide awareness and prevention programs. She has served on the board of the Montana Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the organization sponsoring the teleconference.

Along with support, Fleming said these gatherings give survivors the latest discoveries made through studying the brains of suicide victims. It helps survivors understand their tragedy may have had a biological basis.

Fleming said she learned that her son most likely suffered from undiagnosed bipolar affective disorder, as had his maternal grandfather. This disorder causes episodes of euphoria followed by severe depression.

Fleming said he was treated with an antidepressant rather than lithium, the most effective drug in preventing suicide in people with this disorder.

Studies have determined that about one if 10 children in the United States have bipolar affective disorder. But it is often misdiagnosed as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or oppositional defiant disorder.

Fleming said it is important that a family member go with the person seeking diagnosis and treatment and that the attending physician has knowledge in recognizing and treating bipolar affective disorder.

People interested in learning more about the teleconference may contact Fleming at 212-6380. She asks that people planning to attend call her to preregister.

For those unable attend the Saturday teleconference, the program will be available online at www.afsp.org for one year.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.