Pat Finken - City Magazine

Depression Nearly Cost
Jacques Lamoureux
His Life
Home for Thanksgiving
in his hometown of Grand
Forks in 2003, Jacques
Lamoureux, just a teenager
then but best known today
for his phenomenal hockeyplaying
career with Bismarck
High School, the Bismarck
Bobcats and the Air Force Academy, planned to take
his own life. He had driven to the top of a six-story
parking structure and propped his farewell note on
the dashboard. But as he stepped onto the ledge,
Lamoureux, the second-oldest of four boys and two
girls, realized at the last second he couldn’t inflict that
kind of pain on his family.
Now married and graduated from the Air Force
Academy, 25-year-old Lamoureux spoke with City
Magazine via cell phone on his way to Anchorage,
Alaska, where he’ll continue his military career and
play hockey for the Alaska Aces, a farm team for the St.
Louis Blues.
According to Lamoureux, what made the real
difference in his battle with perfectionism, selfcriticism
and depression was being honest with his
mother about how he felt. One late night, after lying in
bed with his father’s shotgun because he was thinking
of putting an end to his pain, he went to his mother’s
bedroom and described to her the extent of his despair.
She found her son the professional help he needed.
“What saved my life was asking for help,”
Lamoureux said. “From that point on, I was never
alone.” Also key to his recovery was finally accepting
the fact that he had an illness and needed to do
something about it. “I told myself I had to work
through it, just as I would rehabilitate a physical injury.”
“Let people know,” is Lamoureux’s message to
young people whenever he speaks to groups about
suicide and depression. “Too often, friends and family
say they had no idea after someone dies.”
Lamoureux was pleased to hear about the “Out
of the Darkness Community Walk” Saturday, Oct. 1,
at the North Dakota State Capitol, sponsored by the
North Dakota chapter of the American Foundation
for Suicide Prevention. Check-in time is at 1 p.m.
and the walk begins at 2 p.m. Register at www.
outofthedarkness.org.
Tom Regan, a former editor of City Magazine, has been a
media professional for over 40 years.
September 2011 39
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