Darren E. Shell

Moving to NC when I was just three, I have always called it home. Graduating from Southwest Guilford High School and completing my BS degree in Manufacturing Engineering at Western Carolina University. After college, I left for work but soon found NC was where we belonged and I have been here ever since. At the age of 35, I became a father and two weeks later lost my father to death by suicide. I spent the following six months walking in pure darkness and not even knowing it. Nearly 9 years after my father's death I felt almost recovered, until I lost a childhood friend who had been like a brother to me, again to death by suicide. Kenny and I had met when we were three years old and he was my very first friend. I was destroyed but was able to use my experience to help our family through their loss. In helping my second family I found recovery for myself and just 5 years later have now written a book to tell my story.