I remember my feet giving way, a pit of icy agony opening in my stomach as I slid down the wall, wondering, "What? Thousands of Americans are dying by suicide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the suicide rate has risen 25 percent since It's 22 percent higher for military veterans than for civilians. Last year, more people died by suicide than from car crashes or opioid overdoses.
Too many of us, fearing judgment and discrimination because of the terrible stigma surrounding mental illness, are suffering in silence. Living with mental illness is not easy. After all, there's no blood test to confirm depression or any brain scan to prove an anxiety disorder. More than once, when Mom's bipolar disorder sent her into an exhausting manic episode, even I wanted to yell at her to "just get over it!
I should have known better. After all, I had spent years in therapy dealing with my own depression, anxiety and bulimia. I eventually became so sick, I ended my career in television news to escape the glaring spotlight. It would take years until I felt strong enough to tell our story. As suicide rates continue to rise, now is the time to look beyond negative stereotypes about mental illness. This requires empathy, the kind of understanding that starts when we withhold judgment and look beyond what we can't objectively understand to change society's perspective on diseases of the mind and how we talk about them.
Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. Support Us Houston's independent source of local news and culture. I support. Support the independent voice of Houston and help keep the future of the Houston Press free. Support Us. Keep the Houston Press Free. By now, any TV buff knows this show. Diverse characters come together under demanding conditions and fend for themselves on a remote island.
Darwinism depletes their numbers as the weak-willed get culled -- voted off the island -- while others thrive on the primal challenges for their tribes.
Survivor scored big in the summer season on Channel But by the time it aired, the station was already painfully aware of its own Survivor scenario. Veteran anchors vanished, voluntarily or otherwise. Sage Steve Smith shipped out, Sylvan Rodriguez succumbed to cancer, and Marlene McClinton made her exit in a surprise on-the-air resignation.
Also gone were Charles Hadlock and Clare Casademont. Rival stations were certain that viewer ratings would be the vote that cast this beleaguered station off its island.
However, they didn't think a relative unknown would step forward to rally the KHOU troops. Lisa Foronda arrived in '97 after weekend-anchor stints in minor markets. Foronda was destined, it seemed, to be little more than an attractive accessory to what KHOU saw as its savior: Greg Hurst, a reputed network news heavyweight brought in from New York.
Over the course of the next year, Hurst wowed nobody. But Foronda carried him, and lifted the rest of the news operation even more. For one, she's smart, in a rare common sense sort of way. She's serious about the news, and that's something that viewers don't see much of these days. But she also doesn't take herself too seriously, a fresh and welcome trait in the pompous world of TV news. Working your way up from places like West Texas can instill humility.
And being matched with a hollow hair-head like Hurst shows that distinction so clearly. Some of the rival newsrooms, in trying to explain how Channel 11's ratings remained respectable, speak in awe about the "Foronda factor" at work.
Every weekday, the people of Houston, Texas invited her into their homes via television and listened. Today, Lisa provides voice overs for commercials, corporate and industrial projects, training, education, promotion, and documentary narration, as well as on-camera spokesperson work.
Her 16 years in front of the camera and behind the microphone bring a polished experience to your projects. Lisa connects easily with producers, directors, and writers, quickly grasping the meaning behind your message and setting the pace for smooth, efficient production.
Amid the countless voices rambling across the media landscape, Lisa Foronda cuts through the clutter, delivering your words with approachability and warmth, but powering them with authority, clarity, and purpose.
Lisa is available for voice over sessions via phone, Skype, or Source Connect. And yet, she somehow managed years of exhilarating mood swings followed by crushing depressions to raise three successful children. In the end, however, the bipolar disorder became too much to bear.
Judy Foronda died by suicide in I am so proud of my mother for believing her experiences might bring comfort to others who were suffering. Years before she died, we agreed that publicly telling our story might encourage people who might otherwise be too afraid or ashamed, to ask for help. Every time a friend takes the first tentative step to make an appointment with a therapist or another comes forward to share her journey, we all move one step closer to making mental illness a topic is normal, even healthy, to talk about.
Criminals commit armed robbery or homicide. My mother died by suicide. The bipolar disorder she fought for so many years had finally twisted her reasoning so much that she actually believed we would be better off without her.
We must also remember that mental illness is a chronic disease, like cancer or diabetes.
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