Eric Hipple, a good guy

Former Lions QB Eric Hipple is using some of his time and his fame to help others prevent the tragedy that happened to him in 2000.

That was the year his 15 year-old son Jeff commited suicide after struggling with depression. After his sons' death, Hipple himself went through a battle with depression and is now dedicated to speaking to others about depression, an illness he says, "No one likes to talk about."

Following Jeff's death, Hipple decided to devote his energies to helping others detect and treat depression and to break down the stigma surrounding depressive illnesses.

"I went overboard and had a couple close calls myself," Hipple said "I finally said, 'Wait a minute, if this can happen to me and to Jeff, when he was a good kid and never got in trouble, then it can happen to anyone.'
"I did some research and got educated and saw that the body and the brain changes when suffering from depression. I wanted to know more and more about depression, so I started talking to people and it grew from there."
Hipple is currently an outreach coordinator and spokesperson for the University of Michigan Depression Center.
"If I can make a difference in someone's life, then Jeff didn't die without a purpose," said Hipple, who also serves on the board of the Mental Illness Research Association and the American Association of Suicidology.

Quotes from the Detroit News