I learned of the death of college student Carly Henley two days after her passing, on October 6, 2010. In the days soon to follow it became clear that scores and scores of people were wounded to the core by the loss. Wonderful evidence around the internet serves to almost suspend Carly Henley's personable allure, her impressive musical talent, and a short life the likes of which most anybody could envy.

Various reports tell of her short term struggle with depression of perhaps three months in duration. Significant in that was the introduction of anti-depressant drug Zoloft via prescription some two weeks before Carly took her own life.

Not lost on me now, finally, is the wording in the "Black Box Warning" with Zoloft, which states that antidepressants may increase the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in persons younger than 25. Risk is especially heightened during the first two months of taking anti-depressants.

The labels on anti-depressant drugs in the U.S. were altered to reference young adults aged 18 to 24 just three years earlier - in 2007.

It is my belief, now, that Carly just happened to land among the small percentage of anti-depressant users who are susceptible to being so affected by a powerful drug such as Zoloft.

One need not ever have known such a remarkable woman to feel the pain all around at the loss of Carly Henley.


So many life lessons are so well represented by Carly Henley's compelling spirit. Let me see if I can help some to gain fuller appreciation for a woman who continues to inspire everyone who ever knew of her.



It has now been 8 years since Carly Henley's passing.


         In two weeks time Carly Henley's high school class will get together and celebrate their 10-year-reunion, and you can be certain that there will be considerable mention and display of Carly Henley's image during that evening.

          It remains difficult to imagine that many of those classmates weren't at some point very positively affected by Carly's presence in their lives, and perhaps as much so in their memories of her.  No doubt stories shared during the evening will include Carly Henley amid many fond memories conveyed by people who were very fortunate just to have that radiant presence in their lives.

         Hard to know that anybody truly understands  Carly Henley's choices any better after 8 years than they did in the hours and weeks in the immediate aftermath of her death.  It remains least troubling to believe that it was an effect of Zoloft which allowed a young woman's mind to conceive of the idea to end her life.  Then-recent reports on Zoloft had been significant in the area of 'suicidality' in young adults, and in particular new users of the powerful antidepressant.

         Everybody gets to make his or her own choices, and the world is surely no nearer to making it especially clear to choosers at just what magnitude his or her own personal glow burns bright in the hearts of those nearby.  It is so easy to believe that if somebody such as Carly Henley could have even begun to fathom the effect of her own living radiance on everyone nearby, that she would have been perhaps too greatly challenged to take her own life.  

         Sadly, suicide rates in the U.S.A. are at long-time highs in recent years, and it is hard to tell whether any of that is tethered to more difficult times on Earth.  No doubt it is many times more difficult to make it through early adulthood in 2018 than it was to make it through early adulthood in 1960, with most of that relating to an emotional standpoint.  Life goes much faster now than it did 60 years ago, and with many time-consuming tasks sped-up to allow for even more going on all around us than ever before.

         Humans as individuals are rendered less significant by the "big picture" (whatever that is) and so many souls get lost along the way.  And in this case, Carly Henley was someone who probably HAD what everybody else only yearned for, and those things probably didn't/couldn't solve whatever troubles she believed she had.  So in that light it seems almost fair for some to say:  "well if she couldn't thrive, then what chance do I have?"

         There are a lot of days in life on earth where to just keep yourself in the batter's box to afford the chance that the next pitch just might be the one for you  is the most sensible goal.  That no matter whether you're facing homelessness, a jail sentence, a huge financial burden, or the loss of a loved one.  

          Ultimately, Carly Henley opted to take herself out of the batter's box, for one reason or another, and everyone reading this still has the priceless option of staying in the batter's box of life just to see what pitch comes next.

          Maybe you can foul-off a couple of pitches, and prolong precious time until your outlook has an opportunity to turn around.  Maybe the next pitch will be way outside of the strike zone, granting you still another saved opportunity.  All we know in this corner is how precious and important that ***chance*** is.  And it is a whole lot easier than winning the lottery to make a go of it when you opt for life  over the alternative.

          We are all thinking of Carly Henley today, on October 6, 2018.
         (Hopefully she will be smiling down on that upcoming reunion perhaps still with a greater combined presence than any individual with the group that night)

Posted by

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)