Dylan Hunt (1990

The fact that your child died by his own hand compounds your loss immeasurably. Beyond all the grief and helplessness that other parents feel, your child’s suicide confronts you with particular problems, complications of your grief that are unique to survivors of a suicide. You feel a profound sense of failure that you could not prevent his death. Closely tied to your sense of failure is the implied rebuke: you could not make his life worth living, you could not offer him enough of… of whatever he needed so that he would want to live. You feel a terribly personal abandonment that he preferred to die rather than be alive with you.

– excerpt from “The Worst Loss” – Barbara D. Rosof

Never Too Late lyrics
- Three Days Grace

This world will never be what I expected
And if I don't belong who would have guessed it
I will not leave alone everything that I own
To make you feel like it's not too late, it's never too late

Even if I say it'll be alright
Still I hear you say you want to end your life
Now and again we try to just stay alive
Maybe we'll turn it around 'cause it's not too late
It's never too late

No one will ever see this side reflected
And if there's something wrong who would have guessed it?
And I have left alone everything that I own
To make you feel like it's not too late, it's never too late

Even if I say it'll be alright
Still I hear you say you want to end your life
Now and again we try to just stay alive
Maybe we'll turn it around 'cause it's not too late
It's never too late

The world we knew won't come back
The time we've lost can't get back
The life we had won't be ours again

This world will never be what I expected
And if I don't belong

Even if I say it'll be alright
Still I hear you say you want to end your life
Now and again we try to just stay alive
Maybe we'll turn it around 'cause it's not too late
It's never too late

Maybe we'll turn it around 'cause it's not too late
It's never too late
It's not too late, it's never too late

Up until October 26, 2004, suicide was a stranger to our family. Suicide was something that happened to a friend of a friend or it was something we had seen on TV, but now suicide is a part of all of us who knew Dylan James Hunt. Although it was he who made the decision to take his own life, we are the ones who are left behind to try and pull together and survive it.

We are all here for each other as a circle of friends and family and this web-site is to share our memories and support each other in our sorrow of losing a son, friend, grandson, cousin, nephew.

Dylan was born at St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton Calif. on April 18, 1990, died October 26, 2004 at the age of fourteen years old, Dylan leaves his memory with his father Bill Hunt, mother Denise Luirette, step-father Bob Luirette; grammy Kathy Hunt, g-pa & g-ma Albert and Barbara Tafolla; uncles Scott, Jeremy, Phil; aunts Jill, Carla. Dylan had a special relationship with his cousin Deeanna who was like a sister to him.

Dylan loved music. Most important to him were the two bands he helped founded “The Illness” (Dylan, Julian, and Manual) and Dance Floor Sex (Dylan, Julian, Cameron, and Andrew). He played bass for both bands.

This site is dedicated to our son Dylan and to all who have had suicide become a part of their lives. Learning to conquer feelings of disappointment and self-doubt is part of growing up. For some teens, however, these feelings become overwhelming and their thoughts turn to suicide. If you are having thoughts of suicide, below are some numbers and web-sites for you to reach out and get information from.

National Hopeline Network
1 (800) suicide / 1 (800) 784-2433

National Suicide Hotline
Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1 (800) 273- TALK/ 1 (800) 273-8255

On my bookshelf/in my Nook:

Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher
My Son...My Son: A Guide to Healing After Death, Loss, or Suicide - Iris Bolton
The Worst Loss: How Families Heal from the Death of a Child – Barbara Rosof
Aftershock: Help, Hope and Healing in the Wake of Suicide - Candy Neely Arrington & David Cox
November of the Soul – George Howe Colt
Death Becomes Them – Alix Strauss
Cemetery Stories: Haunted Graveyards, Embalming Secrets, and the Life of a Corpse After Death - Katherine Ramsland
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach
Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife - Mary Roach
Life After Death – Deepak Chopra
The Art of Happiness - Dalai Lama

WHEN SOMEONE TAKES HIS OWN LIFE
An excerpt from THE HEALING OF SORROW
by Norman Vincent Peale
In many ways, this seems the most tragic form of death. Certainly it can entail more shock and grief for those who are left behind than another. And often the stigma of suicide is what rests most heavily on those left behind.

Suicide is often judged to be essentially a selfish act. Perhaps it is. But the Bible warns us not to judge, if we ourselves hope to escape judgment. And I believe this is one area where that Biblical command especially should be heeded

Nor do we know how many valiant battles such a person may have fought and won before he loses that one particular battle. And is it fair that all the good acts and impulses of such a person should be forgotten or blotted out by his final tragic act?

I think our reaction should be one of love and pity, not of condemnation. Perhaps the person was not thinking clearly in his final moments; perhaps he was so driven by emotional whirlwinds that he was incapable of thinking at all. This is terribly sad... but surely it is understandable. All of us have moments when we lost control of ourselves, flashes of temper, or irritation, of selfishness that we later regret. Each one of us, probably, has a final breaking point- or would have if our faith did not sustain us. Life puts more pressure on some of us than it does on others. When I see in the paper, as I do all too often, that dark despair has rolled over some lonely soul, so much so that for him life seemed unendurable, my reaction is not one of condemnation. It is, rather "There but for the grace of God..."

And my heart goes out to those who are left behind, because I known that they suffer terribly. Children in particular are left under a cloud of "differentness," all the more terrifying because it can never be fully explained or lifted. The immediate family of the victim is left wide open to tidal waves of guilt, "What did I fail to do that I should have done? What did I fail to do that I should of done? What did I do that was wrong?"

To such grieving persons I can only say, "Lift up your heads and your hearts, surely you did your best. And surely the loved one who is gone did his best, for as long as he could. Remember, now that his battles and torments are over, do not judge him, and do not presume to fathom the mind of God where one is his children is concerned.”

The slideshows below were made for us by Bryan Crowe in remembrance of Dylan Hunt.

***Click on the first picture to start slideshow***
Slideshow Pictures from Dylan's Memorial Service

Dylans Slideshow Update includes pics of Dylan and "Dance Floor Sex" 10/25/04
Dylans Slideshow Update

Dylan's first Slideshow
To view slideshow you will have to download 2.4 meg player. Right click show and choose full screen

This web-site was first created, with love, by Bryan Crowe. Although he didn’t know Dylan or his family very well prior to Dylan’s death, Bill and I (Denise) now consider Bryan, Darlene, Cameron, and Connor family friends. Bryan introduced us to so many wonderful ways to remember Dylan and we are forever thankful.