About Ben
Our wonderful son Ben lost his battle with mental health and lost his life to suicide. To honor Ben and help erase the stigma of pain and struggles with mental health, we fight for others and fight against that stigma to help make sure no one feels alone.
But his struggle and our loss of him are not, not by a longshot, all that Ben was.
Ben was a person who took action for others. A selfless leader, a protector, a young man who led with grit, grind, hard work and resilience. His was a voice full of laughter and acceptance, kindness and encouragement.
He was an imperfectly perfect son. The youngest of three and the only boy, a healing light in our lives. As a child, a tiny stunt-man, a loving goofy jokester with energy to spare.
As a boy, an athlete - he loved football, lacrosse, his teams, his friends, with ferocity.
He was quiet, but a deep well of fun and loyalty and acceptance. He would stand up for the bullied, the sensitive, the lost.
A giggler, a prankster, a loyal brother, cousin, son, uncle - a young man who put family first and they knew it.
He loved the Loveland Tigers, The Florida Gators, his teammates, his many very good friends who turned to him and with whom he stood through their hardest times.
Covid was hard for Ben, as for all those seniors. He didn’t get his final lacrosse season, prom, graduation, grad parties and life changed in so many ways. He didn’t know what his next chapter should be. But later that year, he decided to become a Firefighter, to go to community college. He didn’t get to start those chapters. For some reason we will never know, maybe a bad day, a moment of self-doubt, an offhand comment that cut too deep, some inner turmoil or unspoken conflict, our Ben, a boy who never expressed depression nor showed signs of any form of struggle with mental illness, was suddenly and without explanation gone from our lives forever.
Ben’s continuing legacy will not be one of loss, but as a lifesaver through organ donation, as a loyal friend and stalwart teammate and a man of deep compassion for others. His legacy will go on through the Ben Morrison Fund and through those of us who serve that cause and carry him with us to take care to light the way out of darkness for others and spark hope to always cont;nue your story.
