This Person Wants Robin Williams to Stop Being the Face of Suicide Awareness
Years have passed and it’s still sad to say that he’s not around.
Edmund
- Published in Interesting
The loss of the legendary Robin Williams was a unbelievably sad moment. I can't speak for others but I don't think I will ever forget that day.
To lose someone who generated so much joy in the world was a true moment for not only the people in his life but anyone who had enjoyed his work during his incredible career. Much was not known about his passing for the longest time. All that was known was that the actor had taken his life. Since then he has been used as an example for mental health and suicide awareness.
One Imgur user believes that this should stop.
Robin as most would remember him, lively and smiling.
“We need to stop using Robin Williams as a case for ‘suicide awareness'” says one Imgur user. This opinion seems to be supported by the actors widow, Susan Schneider Williams in her publication titled ‘The terrorist inside my husband’s brain’. In this she details what Robin had been suffering from leading up to his passing.
Susan wrote that “Robin is and will always be a larger-than-life spirit who was inside the body of a normal man with a human brain, he just happened to be that 1 in 6 who is affected by brain disease”.Robin had dementia with Lewy body disease. His passing wasn’t a spontaneous suicide due to mental illness, it was self-inflicted euthanasia.
“Robin was losing his mind and he was aware of it. Can you imagine the pain he felt as he experienced himself disintegrating? And not from something he would ever know the name of, or understand? Neither he, nor anyone could stop it—no amount of intelligence or love could hold it back.”Peggy SirotaAbout Robin Williams condition (Lewy body disease)
“When we were in the neurologist’s office learning exactly what this meant, Robin had a chance to ask some burning questions. He asked, “Do I have Alzheimer’s? Dementia? Am I schizophrenic?” The answers were the best we could have gotten: No, no, and no. There were no indications of these other diseases. It is apparent to me now that he was most likely keeping the depth of his symptoms to himself.”
Less than three months before his death, Williams was diagnosed with Parkinson disease. However this would not be the end of it as Robin experienced nearly every symptoms of Lewy body disease (of which there are 40).
“Robin’s was one of the worst LBD pathologies [medical professionals] had seen and that there was nothing else anyone could have done.”
“But would having a diagnosis while he was alive really have made a difference when there is no cure? We will never know the answer to this. I am not convinced that the knowledge would have done much more than prolong Robin’s agony while he would surely become one of the most famous test subjects of new medicines and ongoing medical trials. Even if we experienced some level of comfort in knowing the name, and fleeting hope from temporary comfort with medications, the terrorist was still going to kill him. There is no cure and Robin’s steep and rapid decline was assured.”“The massive proliferation of Lewy bodies throughout his brain had done so much damage to neurons and neurotransmitters that in effect, you could say he had chemical warfare in his brain.”“After months and months, I was finally able to be specific about Robin’s disease. Clinically he had PD, but pathologically he had diffuse LBD. The predominant symptoms Robin had were not physical—the pathology more than backed that up. However, you look at it—the presence of Lewy bodies took his life.”Although it has been many years since Robins passing, the world is still feeling the loss of the absolutely brilliant man he was. His legacy of laughs, kind words and classics that were loved by people of every demographic will never be forgotten. He was a kind man who put made people all over the world smile and no condition could change how brilliant he was.
Mara Wilson (star of 'Mrs. Doubtfire' and 'Matilda') said "Robin Williams, as I knew him, was warm, gentle, expressive, nurturing, and brilliant."
... and that is how he will be remembered.
Edmund