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Ohio State University football player Harry Miller announced his medical retirement on Thursday in anemotional social mediapost that detailed his mental health challenges.
Miller, an offensive lineman, approached Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day last year to tell him he had been havingsuicidal thoughts. Day put Miller in contact with the university’s counseling services, which the engineering major said was the “support I needed.”
“I would not usually share such information,” Miller said in his post. “However, because I have played football, I am no longer afforded the privilege of privacy, so I will share my story briefly before more articles continue to ask, ‘What is wrong with Harry Miller.’ "
“That is a good question,” he added. “It is a good enough question for me not to know the answer, though I have asked it often.”
Weeks after opening up to his coach, Miller said he returned to the team “with scars on my wrists and throat.”
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“Maybe the scars were hard to see with my wrists taped up,” Miller wrote, adding, “There was a dead man on the television set, but nobody knew it.”
Miller, who is a junior with a 4.0 GPA and will continue his studies at Ohio State, said he initially struggled with explaining how he was feeling because he did not want to be thought of as a “coward.”
Ultimately, Miller said Day and other Ohio State University members helped him through that period of his life. He is now working with Day to find ways to help other players on the team address their mental health.
“I hope athletic departments around the country do the same,” Miller explained. “If not for [Day] and the staff, my words would not be a reflection. They would be evidence in a post-mortem.”
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go tosuicidepreventionlifeline.org.
source: people.com
