By Ed Willes - from Faceoff.com
VANCOUVER — Almost two years ago, on the first day of the Vancouver Canucks’ training camp, the organization approached a pair of journalists with a proposition.
Rick Rypien, who’d missed most of the 2008-09 season on a leave of absence, was prepared to talked about his situation. It was understood by those who covered the team that Rypien had been dealing with depression but, beyond that, nothing was known about the condition of this young man and the illness which chased him away from the game he loved.
Two years later, that’s still the case. Rypien was found dead in his Coleman, Alta., home last week and it all seems so utterly incomprehensible. Hadn’t he defeated his demons? Hadn’t he emerged from his dark struggle whole and intact?
That, of course, is what everyone wanted to believe and when Rypien signed a one-year deal with the Winnipeg Jets, it seemed he’d finally stepped into the light.
But, as Canucks general manager Mike Gillis came to learn, it’s never that easy with mental illness. Things are never really as they appear. There can be good days, good weeks, even good months and, when he was at his best, Rypien looked like he could play in the NHL for a decade.
Then, it could all change and everyone was powerless to do anything about it.
“It’s a constant and relentless battle,” said Gillis, the day after he returned from Rypien’s funeral. “It doesn’t disappear. It’s always lurking around and you have to understand and deal with that on a daily basis.”.
But for all that, for all the chaos and confusion, one thing became clear about Rypien. He was willing to talk about his illness, to expose himself to the most excruciating public scrutiny, because he thought his story could help others.
In the end he couldn’t help himself but, even in death, that ideal remains. There is much about mental illness which is beyond knowing. There is much about mental illness which defies reason.
But if Rypien’s story can compel one person to seek help; if it can put a human face to this debilitating disease, then, maybe, some value can come of this.
It isn’t much, but for those who were close to Rypien, that’s all they’ve got these days.
It's always a good thing to hear someone's story about the different problems that he/she had overcome. Depression is a serious problem and to be able to hear someone's experience about it - on how they survived is very helpful to those people who are suffering the same condition. Depression is the common cause of sleep deprivation which we all know may result to a lot of serious health problems.
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