- [Aanika] My late husband Tim was...he was a card. He had an amazing sense of
humor, very sarcastic and quick-witted.
It was hard to keep up with him many times.
- [Shane] He would make jokes that a lot of time would kind of go over your head
and you wouldn't realize them until, like, a few seconds later.
And then you'd notice he was smirking because he just kind of got away with
getting you to think something that wasn't true.
- He was a cyclist and he used to say that his best thinking was done when he would
go out for long rides. He kind of re-introduced me to cycling too,
when we first started dating.
For all of the time that I knew him, he would try to push his emotions down
and I knew that, but I never realized how difficult those emotions were.
I know that when he first started seeking treatment for his alcoholism,
because at that...his body had become kind of physically dependent on it.
And so it was difficult for him to wean away from it and he needed medical
assistance for that, and in so doing, then he had different medications that he was
taking and I think that he didn't believe that he was in this path.
He didn't believe that he was depressed.
- I didn't really know he had it, until, like, maybe the last year,
the last few months, or pretty close until when he took his life,
until the end.
- Unfortunately, in our family, we've had a number of family members who've had
cancer and some have lost their fight with cancer and some have, thank goodness,
survived. The advice was to help them understand it in a similar way,
that he had this depression that made him feel like there was no other way out.
Some people can get treatment and help and survive their depression and others can't.
- I didn't really know if there was anybody that would help this disease,
because it didn't seem like there's that much help. Then I got this idea that...
I thought maybe a fundraiser. I knew my dad liked to ride his bike,
so I decided to do a bike ride and then we kind of looked for an organization that
would help us and we found Hope for Depression Research Foundation.
- [Audrey] What sets us apart from other charities is the subject.
Depression has been under-researched, underfunded, for many years.
And the fact that we are bringing attention to this major subject
matter...it is the number one reason in the world for disability.
That message has to get out there.
- It kind of stood out. First of all, because it is yellow and that kind of
popped when I got onto the website. I also liked that it focused more specifically on
depression. It said that there were a large amount of people in the world that
suffer from depression. I didn't really know that it was that common.
I saw, like, how much money it was costing the U.S.
because people were out of work due to it.
- Like, two months later, we're putting together flyers and he's telling me what
to put on the flyers. I'm typing it out on there and then he was saying, "10 miles,"
and I'm like, "Shane, and you're 10 years old."
And he just goes, "Duh."
I'm like, "Oh, you picked 10 miles, because you were 10 years old."
Like, it just didn't even occur to me to ask him.
- I expected to raise about $400. We wound up getting $4,000.
It was extremely exciting.
- That's Shane. - [Man] [inaudible].
- "It was extremely exciting."
- Oh, man.
- [Woman] And that brings me to introduce a very special guest,
Shane Boylan.
- When the Hope for Depression Research Foundation had asked him to come and speak
at their annual luncheon, I was just so thrilled. It was just such an opportunity
for him to really get a chance to share his message and the work that he had done
and his chance to feel accomplished.
- My name is Shane Boylan, and it is an honor to be here today with you.
When my own father lost his fight with depression and he was taken away from me,
I decided I wanted to do something to prevent this from happening to other
people. I decided to raise money to help fund research that will find the answers,
to help other people like my dad and help families stay together.
I'm really happy that I could make a difference and turn something very
difficult into something positive. Thank you for letting me tell you about my ride
and thank you for joining me in support of Hope for Depression Research Foundation.
- When he was finished, he walked away from the podium
and the whole room stood up and gave him a standing ovation.
- Thank you. - That was just remarkable.
- Shane, everyone at Hope for Depression is so inspired, and so impressed by you
that we want your next bike ride to be on a brand new bike.
And we even have a yellow and grey helmet for you.
- What do you think of that? - A new bicycle.
- Are you surprised? - Yes.
- Well, you deserve it.
- I am so remarkably proud of Shane for what he's done. The fact that he went that
other step to try and do something to help the research so that other people wouldn't
die from this disease... I really thought like, that's just going so far
to really make things better for others.
- I want people to know that it's a disease. It's not something that's...
Like, you can't just get over it. I think I'd like to keep it going,
to try and raise a little bit more money every year to go to...help research on
this disease that kills a lot of people.
♪ [music] ♪