September is Suicide Prevention Month
in honor of
Christopher York Flounlacker
2022 Ending the Silence 5K
Christopher Flounlacker was “larger than life” like a lovable teddy bear; he was thoughtful, playful, and had a great sense of humor. He was kind, gentle-hearted, and loved by many and he loved greatly. Caring, fiercely loyal, intelligent, fun-spirited, and fun-loving are a few of the characteristics that can be used to describe this incredible young man. Chris was a tough competitor on the football field and set his sights on a goal of playing college ball and achieved his objective.
Chris was born in Pensacola, FL to a loving family and enjoyed many outdoor and team sports activities from a very early age; fishing, swimming at the beach, camping/hiking, and hunting with his family just to name a few. He also participated in team sports from the age of 4 with YMCA sports, Bill Bond baseball and in his middle school years, Chris participated in the CYSL football league. He attended Creative Learning Academy for his primary years, N.B. Cook Elementary, and St. Paul Catholic School through middle school, and his high school career was split between Pensacola Catholic High School and Booker T. Washington. The camaraderie that he shared with his fraternity of brothers taught Chris a lot of valuable life lessons including the value of teamwork, discipline, dedication, and sacrifice.
In his sophomore year at Georgetown College - Covid hit in 2000 and abruptly stopped all sports and life as we knew it. This was difficult for Chris and the isolation as a result of quarantine on his college campus was especially stressful for him as a young college athlete. These extraordinary social restrictions exacerbated some of his hidden conditions of trouble concentrating, headaches, insomnia, nausea, forgetfulness, lack of impulse control, anxiety, and depression that he kept hidden from everyone. He tried to put on a brave face and show his happy-go-lucky self and go with the flow. Throughout his entire football career, Chris incurred two known concussions that required hospital visits and countless number of sub-concussive hits to the head. Traumatic Brain Injury-CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) is a condition that has now been brought to the light that is affecting athletes of all ages with symptoms including forgetfulness, headaches, trouble thought processing, delusion, anxiety, depression, impulsivity, trouble concentrating, suicidal thoughts, agitation, drug and alcohol use, insomnia, paranoia, and isolation.
Chris was struggling with the societal adjustments due to Covid restrictions, dashed dreams and we believe symptoms as a result of TBI-CTE and didn’t know how to ask for help. Chris expressed distress to us and we immediately instructed him to come home so he could have a reboot and carve out a new path for his future. Since his youth, Chris has been a passionate sportsman, nature lover, and man of adventure. Chris found his way back to the great outdoors and worked as a deckhand in Orange Beach. His love of nature and adventure always brought him a lot of joy and peace. He had aspirations to pursue these passions in the coming year, as he was looking forward to working on a cruise ship in Alaska, traveling, seeing the world, and pursuing his boat captain’s license. He was always happiest around a campfire with many friends and family and lots of delicious food. In the end, Chris succumbed to this preventable disease and our beautiful, talented, and charismatic son took his own life on January 2, 2022. It is our belief that TBI-CTE played a role in his fatal and life-altering decision.
Christopher is and will always be our beloved son, grandson, cousin, nephew, and friend and he will be greatly missed by his loving family and friends. All be it too short, we are immensely grateful for his life, which was filled with love, light, and joy. His dynamic personality shone very brightly and he will always be remembered in the hearts of those who knew him.
To honor Christopher Flounlacker’s life and to carry his “Love and Light” forward we are joining the legions of survivors of suicide in the cause to raise awareness, reduce the stigma, and aid in the fight for Prevention and Postvention. Our hope in sharing Chris’s story is to speak directly to anyone who may be struggling with depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts ~ you are not alone ~ there is help ~ it is available to you.
#Connection #Don’tSufferinSilence #LOVENOW
To honor Christopher Flounlacker’s life and to carry his “Love and Light” forward we are joining the legions of survivors of suicide in the cause to raise awareness, reduce the stigma, and aid in the fight for Prevention and Postvention. Our hope in sharing Chris’s story is to speak directly to anyone who may be struggling with depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts ~ you are not alone ~ there is help ~ it is available to you.
#Connection #Don’tSufferinSilence #LOVENOW
To help those who have experienced a loss by suicide, NAMI Pensacola/NAMI Okaloosa Walton/NAMI Bay are reaching out to members of the community who have suffered a loss to suicide to help establish a suicide prevention and postvention response program.
To help address the gap in survivor response and support in the Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton and surrounding areas, please submit you information below:
To help address the gap in survivor response and support in the Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton and surrounding areas, please submit you information below:
