Family to honor daughter and help fight mental illness with 5k run

A Guthrie mother is preparing to celebrate her daughter’s life and bring awareness of mental illness this weekend with a 5k walk and run.

Essence Lewis died in a car accident last November at the age of 19. Prior to her death, Lewis struggled with depression and anxiety. Lewis’ mother, Dawn Lewis, says no one ever knew the struggles her daughter had due to her memorable smile and the way she encouraged others.

In recent months, Dawn has assembled a 5k walk and run in honor of her daughter. She has gotten permits with the City of Guthrie, she has posted flyers and has visited with everyone in town. Now, the family is ready to honor Essence on what would have been her birthday weekend.

It is her mother’s hope to not only celebrate her daughter’s life, but to help bring awareness of mental illness and assist in removing the stigma attached to it. Unfortunately, there is a stigma attached to mental health issues. This stigma leads to a lot of people refusing to talk about the issues. This often causes a lot of mental health issues to get worse, sometimes pushing people over the edge. Mental health is a serious issue, one that deserves so much more attention. Hopefully, this marathon will draw a lot of awareness to the cause and encourage people to speak about their issues. However, if people aren’t confident enough to speak up, they could always consider researching other ways to prevent these feelings from becoming overbearing. One of the best ways to do this is by trying to access some marijuana-based products, such as these platinum cookies, for example. A lot of people find that those sorts of products help to reduce depression, whilst providing an uplifting effect for the individual. This can prevent mental health issues temporarily.