According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2020, 12.2 million adults seriously thought about suicide, 3.2 million made a plan and 1.2 million attempted suicide.
Kylar Galloway of Columbus lost his battle to suicide in 2019, and since then, his wife, Kaitlyn Galloway, a 911 dispatcher for the Seymour Police Department, has been looking for ways to raise awareness about suicide and the effects it can have around others.
At first, Galloway wasn’t sure how she was going to raise awareness, but then she thought the idea of a 5K at the Freeman Field Recreational Complex in Seymour would be a step in the right direction.
“Since this is a strong subject for me, I wanted to raise awareness about it, and I knew that 5Ks are pretty popular and people always want to participate in them,” Galloway said.
She hopes this 5K not only raises awareness about suicide and suicide prevention but honors the memory of her late husband.
Galloway first met Kylar at a church camp in Fortville. They both attended when they were 16, and in the blink of an eye, they started dating.
Three years later, Galloway married her church camp crush at 19, soon finding out his love for adventure.
Galloway said he loved keeping his hands busy with motorcycles, cars and playing guitar.
“He was always working on motorcycles and different cars,” Galloway said. “We probably had a new car in our driveway every week.”
The Galloways were gripped by the wanderlust as they went on many adventures together, whether on a motorcycle or in a car.
“We were always on the move,” she said. “We would like to take day adventures and just ride, sometimes not even knowing where we were.”
Galloway loved everywhere she went with her late husband, but she said the backroads by his childhood home were her favorite places to be.
“It was nice just seeing where he grew up and get to ride on the motorcycle,” she said. “It’s hard to choose just one place, though, because we did so much together.”
Galloway also had a love for music and was known to pick anything and play, especially guitars.
“He played guitar all the time, played for church, and sometimes, he would take it to the park with our friends and play,” she said. “I used to play saxophone, and one of his dreams was for us to play together, and we did a few times.”
Galloway said she always remembers Kylar for his drive to work on certain projects and finish them, especially changing an engine in a vehicle all by himself.
“We would always pull up YouTube videos if he didn’t know the next step, and he would work on that car all night and all day until he finished it,” she said. “In our apartment at the time, we had a power cord run out from our apartment to the parking lot, where he took our living room lamp to work on it during the night.”
Galloway said Kylar was the first person to teach her how to change her car brakes and oil, and she enjoyed working on cars with him whenever she could.
These memories she plans to bring with her to the 5K to honor his life and others who have experienced the death of a loved one by suicide.
Galloway is still raising funds for the 5K, and all proceeds will be donated to the Suicide Crisis Hotline.
“I just want to spread awareness, and I’m hoping something like this reaches those who need help,” she said.
The Kylar Galloway Suicide Awareness 5K is April 29 with preregistration starting at 9 a.m. and the race starting at 10 a.m. at the recreation area, 2476 N. State Road 11, Seymour.
Registration is $25 per person, and forms can be filled out online at seymourpd.com/kyler-galloway-suicide-awareness-5k.