BY COURTNEY GREISBACH
ADVOCATE NEWSPAPER (17 JUN, 2011 02:03 PM)
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RACHELLE Dell would do anything to take back just one moment of her life.
It’s the moment she refused to speak to her father. She instead offered a meaningless “hi”.
Only a couple of hours later, Rachelle’s father tragically took his own life.
Six months after her father’s death, who suffered depression, the 14-year-old Ulverstone girl made a heart-aching plea through a video urging people to understand the illness.
The YouTube video has gone viral, seen by more than 10,000 YouTube viewers in a week.
Rachelle has received countless messages of support, including people suffering with depression who have said they would now seek support.
The simple, but powerful five-minute video highlights the last moments Rachelle had with her dad before he took his own life.
The video shows Rachelle flipping pages of a notebook in her bedroom.
She tells how she regrets the last moments she had with her dad were an argument, she remembers the pain and heartache of learning of his death and touches on the grief she is now working through.
With her mum by her side, Rachelle told The Advocate about the purpose of her video.
“It was a type of grieving process for me and I wanted to show people what depression can do to others,” she said.
“I wanted something good to come out of something bad.”
Rachelle penned the signs a month ago and with the encouragement of her friends she filmed herself last week.
“I was so nervous when I clicked to upload it, but I was in a positive frame of mind.
“I was scared I wuld get judgmental comments, but so far the number of negative comments are nothing compared to the positive.”
The video has been viewed on YouTube, Facebook and Rachelle’s blog.
“I wanted to getthe point across that depression is here and there are places for people to get help.”