Photo Credit: John Wall/Instagram
Clippers player John Wall has had a tough past few years. While the world has been dealing with COVID, the world being shutdown and now monkeypox, he’s proven to be no different than the rest of us. Over the past 2.5 years he’s lost his mother and grandmother back to back and then with the career altering injuries he endured, he says it caused him to contemplate taking his life.
In a recent interview, Wall said “Darkest place I ever been. At one point in time, I thought about committing suicide. My mom being sick. My mom passing. My grandma passed a year later.” And he says watching his mother take her last breath was almost unbearable. But he says therapy was his saving grace.
john wall on his life the past 2 years and dealing with suicidal thoughts. my dawg really a warrior. can’t wait to see him hoop with the clippers.🖤💯 pic.twitter.com/zNy4CP4Jk7
— ★ (@sublxme888) August 29, 2022
“Find a therapist,” Wall said. “You know a lot of people think, ‘I don’t need help. I can get it through it at any time.’ But, you got to be true to yourself and find out what’s best for you. And I did that.” He says he believes that these obstacles ultimately all made him a better person. “If I can get through this, I can get through anything in life,” Wall said. “I don’t think a lot of people could get through what I went through.”
College athlete suicides so far have grown to the point that calls for the NCAA to do something have been made. Five took their lives from March to May of 2022 alone. Ohio State University mentor and tutor Bob Eckhart said “The game plan now should be check on everyone all the time, even if they aren’t showing symptoms and maybe, especially if they aren’t showing symptoms.”
“I think the most complicated part is figuring out what the signs are,” Eckhart said. “Don’t assume that people who are performing well, getting playing time, and achieving results are doing well off the playing field. Maybe the playing field is the only place where they are doing okay.”
And these are good steps to follow for the pros as well. We’re happy to see John Wall in a better place mentally and physically because if a man feels he’s losing his purpose as it pertains to one’s livelyhood being at stake, the potential for suicide rises significantly. So it’s good that he was able to identify the fact that he needed to see someone.
