Mother Updates Book On Son's Suicide, Urges Better Prevention

Unexpected tragedy can strike at any time as our family experienced in 2005 when our oldest son Matthew took his own life.

- Julie Zielinski

Seven years after his death I wrote a book, Matt’s Last Call: Surviving Our Protectors, sharing our family’s journey of joys and sorrows. It was a story of hope and of new beginnings and the birth of a passion to reach out to others before it is too late and to comfort those who are survivors of a suicide.

Now, 12 years later I am republishing the book to call on the need for increased emphasis on suicide prevention and what I’ve learned in the last five years.

My son Matthew was an athlete, a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps and a Chelan County Sheriff’s Deputy. But even the training and discipline from those vocations could not save him from death by his own hand at age 27, a result of a failed relationship.

My goal in sharing my story is to save someone else from experiencing the same pain and grief, in particular law enforcement and all first responders.