THIS IS ADAM’S STORY...
Adam Holten was a brother, a son, a grandson, a cousin, a nephew, a friend, a neighbor, a classmate, a co-worker, a Boy Scout Youth Leader, a student and an athlete. He was caring, sensitive, introverted, strong-willed, a hard worker, creative, smart and had a dry sense of humor. He was all of these things and more and as his family, we love him so much. We had “family fun”, took vacations, were involved and spent time daily with him and did all the things a caring family does.
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So, when he came forward in January of 2018 and said that he felt different from other people and didn’t understand why life was so hard and what the point was, as his parents we were very concerned. We immediately got him into counseling and, after several months, also started him on medication for depression and anxiety. There were ups and downs but things seemed to be on the right track.
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2018 Christmas break came and he was excited. We celebrated the holiday in typical fashion, with family, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Looking back, we feel so blessed to share this time together. We watched a Christmas movie together, Christmas Chronicles, as a family and had a family hug afterwards. That would be our last family hug. On December 26, 2018 Adam died by suicide and our lives were forever changed.
After Adam’s passing we heard of so many stories of his kindness. He reached out to people that needed to be picked up and he liked to help those in need. To keep his spirit of giving alive we created a non-profit organization and called it "Strides for Adam”. We are raise funds through a 5K and Reflection Walk and we use those funds for scholarships and to help local athletes.
