![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.faceitfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Bill-and-Mark-against-wall-cropped.jpg\")
Connected by family, living a mere 3 miles apart, and when together joking and horsing around like brothers, Mark Meier and Bill Dehkes assumed they had a good handle on who the other was and how amazing of a life each was living.\u00a0<\/p>\nConnected by family, living a mere 3 miles apart, and when together joking and horsing around like brothers, Mark Meier and Bill Dehkes assumed they had a good handle on who the other was and how amazing of a life each was living.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMark was the \u201cgolden child\u201d to our family.\u00a0 He had the big job, amazing wife and kids, his life was perfect,\u201d Bill recalls.\u00a0 \u201cWhen I was with Bill\u201d, says Meier \u201call I saw was his big smile, his accomplishments in business, and how confident he was.\u201d\u00a0 To each of them, the other had it easy, while both worked to mask the pain they were secretly living in.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was mental health Sunday at our church,\u201d Dehkes remembers. \u201cI leaned over to my wife Wendy and said look your cousin Mark is going to speak about depression.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cMy recollection?\u00a0 Well, I was shocked to see Bill and Wendy in the audience and I was petrified to tell my whole story because nobody in the family really knew,\u201d says Meier.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the hour unfolded, Bill was stunned to learn Mark battled depression, anxiety, self-doubt, shame, and ultimately a suicide attempt.\u00a0 And afterward Mark stood in disbelief as Bill simply said, \u201cYou just told my story.\u201d<\/p>\n