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Date: 4/7/2022
WILBRAHAM – At 9 a.m. on April 23, Wilbraham resident Bill Wells will step off from Wilbraham United Church and start running, and he will not stop until 9 a.m. the next morning. Wells is challenging himself on this continuous run to raise money and awareness for mental health and suicide prevention.
“If [COVID-19] did anything, it exposed how fragile people’s mental health can be and if we don’t step up and address it, it can become a very dangerous thing,” Wells said of his reasons for the fundraiser.
Donations in any amount are being collected, both at the race and at www.mhainc.org/donate. All the donations will go to Mental Health Associates of Springfield’s Bestlife Center for Emotional Health and Wellness.
Wells is a long-time endurance runner, but leading up to this event, he has been training with progressively longer runs. He completed four marathons of 26.2 miles each, two 50Ks (31 miles), and runs of 40 miles, 43 miles, 54 miles and 62 miles – a 100K, which took 11 hours.
“I have to be very slow early. I am going to hit the wall at some point and the slower I go, the longer it will be until my quads explode,” said Wells. He is not worried about doing permanent damage, though. “I’m smart enough to stop when I’m injured,” Wells said, adding that he fuels his body throughout long runs.
In March 2020, Wells attempted a 24-hour run to raise money and awareness for Rick’s Place, a not-for-profit children and family grief center. Injury forced him to end his run after 20.5 hours.
“Even though I didn’t finish it, I still consider it a success,” because it raised more than $5,000 for the charity, he said. He has the same mindset going into this event. “Bottom line is, if we raise money for mental health awareness, it’ll be a success.”
While the course for the 2020 run was a one-mile loop around Post Office Park, this course will take Wells back and forth along a half-mile stretch of Main Street, beginning at Wilbraham United Church. The short course will allow Wells’s run to be more visible, and his family will be able to gather in one location to support him.
Wells is encouraging people to run legs of the event with him. Participants will receive a green ribbon (the official color of mental health awareness) and can choose to walk or run the course.
He will also be encouraging everyone to pledge to “have a discussion about mental health with their family within 24 hours.”
Wells explained, “It’s time to address how mental health is perceived in our country and around the world. Just as every person needs to take care of their physical health, every person needs to take care of their mental health. It’s time to start talking about mental health.”
According to the National Institute of Mental Health:
Suicide is the second-highest cause of death in the 10-34 age group and 10th-leading cause of death overall.
In 2019, the suicide rate among males was 3.7 times higher (22.4 people per 100,000) than among females (6 people per 100,000).
Nearly one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness – 52.9 million people in 2020.
“We have four generations in my family of people who suffer from mental health disorders, including me,” Wells said, sharing that he has been diagnosed with a mild form of depression. “Just like someone would talk about having cancer or dementia, talk about mental health needs to be normalized. We’re not there yet, but we need to get there.”
If you are in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, confidential and toll-free, at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To learn more about suicide prevention, visit http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org.