'I go through an emotional rollercoaster': Lee County mother recalls losing her daughter by suicide
A group of kids, parents, advocates and medical professionals gathered Monday at WRAL Studios to discuss the loss of a Wendell Middle School student who took his own life last week.
Austin Pendergrass, 13, died by suicide on Sept. 6 at the school.
WRAL News spent more than an hour with the group of 10 people to discuss youth mental health and suicide.
Latishea McAuley lost her daughter Sierra A’lese McLean to suicide on June 15, 2020. Sierra was 18 years old.
“I go through an emotional rollercoaster,” McAuley said of how she copes with the loss of her daughter. “When I say an emotional rollercoaster … because I would have never thought, in 10 million years that it would have happened to me. Never.”
McAuley explains what it’s like each year leading up to June 15.
“I’m either either crying one day [or] throwing up the next,” McAuley said. “One day, I’m happy and later that day, I can have a mental breakdown.
“I’m at work, [I] can’t do my job because I’m thinking about my child. I’m thinking about other people like [Pendergrass]. It’s a lot that I go through.”
McAuley is a single mom and raised Sierra, who struggled with mental illness. According to McAuley, doctors diagnosed Sierra with ADHD and bipolar disorder. McAuley said she had her daughter in therapy and on medication.
A week after Sierra earned her high school diploma, she was gone. McAuley said Sierra started acting out of character leading up to graduation.
McAuley explained what she tells other parents when she has their attention.
“Look for the signs, see behaviors, attitudes,” McAuley said. “Like, if your child, all of a sudden used to enjoy going skating and hanging out with their friends, and then all of a sudden, they feel isolated and don’t want to do nothing, want to stay home, want to sleep all the time, that’s a sign.
“They’re cutting their hair, they’re dying their hair, ‘Baby, why are you doing that?’ That’s a sign.”
Several online sites outline the warning signs if children are in trouble. The Wake County Public School System’s website has a list that has a sobering reminder: An average of two students in the district die by suicide each year.
McAuley started a nonprofit to honor her daughter and help families that can’t afford mental health care. She started Sierra Day, and partners with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and her church to raise awareness and money in her daughter’s memory.
“We pay, the donations that we get from outside of the community, or whoever gives,” McAuley said. “We pay for their therapy session, out of pocket …
“I don’t want no other family to have to through what me and my family are struggling with from day to day."
In Depth With Dan
Dan Haggerty is a reporter and anchor for WRAL. He’s won four regional Emmy awards for his anchoring and reporting in Fort Myers, Florida; Cleveland; San Diego; Dallas; Portland, Oregon and Raleigh, North Carolina. He is proud to call the Triangle home.
Anyone who has an idea for In Depth with Dan can email him at dan@wral.com.
