I met Marcus Wheeler in 2012, my freshman year of High School, when I was 14 years old from Track & Field. He was one of the best long-distance athletes I’ve ever seen. I had the opportunity to be his track teammate when he transferred to Chandler High School during our sophomore year. He later attended Corona Del Sol during his Junior & Senior year of high school. We stayed in touch and trained with the same track coach outside of school.
On May 11th, 2015, The day before Marcus took his life, we were training with our track coach, Coach Rawle Crichlow, and he ended up hurting his Achilles. I hadn’t seen him look that devastated before, and I tried to offer Marcus a lot of encouraging words. If I knew that would be the last day I would see him, I would’ve done so much more.
The next day, May 12th, 2015. I was sitting in class, and he made a tweet that there was going to be a suicide in the school right now. I remember thinking to myself, “why in the hell would you make a tweet like that? – 30 minutes later: We all got the news that there was a shooting at Corona High School and that Marcus had taken his own life.
If I or any of his other friends knew the pain he was going through, we would’ve gotten him the help he needed, and it’s so unfortunate that we couldn’t help save his life. Dedicating this fundraiser to help fund mental health treatment for individuals who can’t afford it means everything to me. Since I couldn’t help save his life, I’m hoping I can help potentially save a life. If you donated to help fund mental health treatment for individuals who can’t afford it, words can’t describe how thankful I am.
– Derek Ware Jr: President/CEO