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Wednesday, September 26, 2018
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PRESLEY’S PRIDE
enise and Ben Denslow, LeAnn Hull and Tim Warnock know the endless pain parents suffer when their child dies by suicide. That’s why the three parents attended a Chandler Unified school board meeting two weeks ago, urging the district to pay more attention to the heartbreaking problem. Their pleas came in the wake of two apparent teen suicides reported within a week in Chandler and Queen Creek earlier this month. Last Friday, a Gilbert teen took his life, bringing to at least 19 the number of East Valley teen suicides since July 2017. One victim was 10 years old. The grieving parents are part of a grassroots effort to save other children, knowing that it is too late to save their own. “I don’t want another family to go through
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this. No family should feel so lost,’’ said Denise Schatt-Denslow of Gilbert, whose 15-year-old son, Jacob Edward Machovsky, a Corona Del sol High School freshman, killed himself on Jan. 16, 2016. “This isn’t a nightmare. You get to wake up from a nightmare,’’ she said. “The best way to honor him is to save another child.’’ The parents – and Kyrene and Tempe Union High School districts – are acting, as state officials have yet to fill a suicide prevention coordinator position the legislature created in May. Lorie Warnock, an English teacher at Mountain Pointe High School, started advocating for more teachers to get training on suicide after her son, Mitchell, 16, a Corona del Sol champion pole-vaulter, took his life in October 2016. Warnock helped form Parents for Suicide Prevention, one of several grassroots organizations loosely affiliated through Facebook.
“It’s advocating for social and emotional wellness,’’ she said. “It’s taken this long to get this kind of momentum and support in order for the training to occur.’’ Warnock’s work paid off in an unprecedented manner this week when the Tempe Union High School District became the first district in the state to provide suicide prevention training to its entire staff – from school bus drivers to teachers and principals. Katey McPherson, an education consultant and suicide prevention advocate, praised former Tempe Union Superintendent Kenneth Baca for laying the groundwork for the training – completed under the watch of current Superintendent Kevin Mendivil. Schatt-Denslow’s husband, Ben Denslow, said he is pleased with the progress in addressing the issue since last year – when McPherson spotted an alarming suicide cluster in the See
PARENTS on page 16
CK’s co-owner becomes a Long overdue honors breast cancer warrior BY COTY DOLORES MIRANDA AFN Contributing Writer
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@AhwatukeeFN
Area parents taking lead in teen suicide prevention BY JIM WALSH AFN Staff Writer
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@AhwatukeeFN |
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endra Pieratt was heading for a delayed honeymoon vacation with her husband of three years, Kyle Pierratt, when her plans – and her life – hit a roadblock. “It was certainly an interesting summer,” said the co-owner of CK’s Tavern and Grill in Ahwatukee. Her “interesting summer” began when her May 25 mammogram – her first – came back “not normal.” Given the news by phone, Pieratt, who turned 40 in April, was reassured it wasn’t unusual. “They said that was common for the first mammogram, and they wanted me to come back for another,” she recalled.
But after her second mammogram six days later, the radiologist told her he was “concerned” about the reading. One week after that, she underwent a biopsy. And the next day, June 6, changed her life forever: “They called me and told me I had breast cancer in my left breast.” After meeting with a surgeon, an MRI was performed June 7 to assess the extent of the cancer. That same day, Kyle and Kendra Pieratt left on their three-year delayed honeymoon in the Turks and Caicos Islands with more to discuss than what to eat and drink and how much beach time to spend. First was the matter of her See
KENDRA on page 20
(Kimberly Carrillo/AFN Staff Photographer)
Gold Star Wife Mary Williams of Ahwatukee shows off one of more than 60 certificates given out Saturday during a tribute to Vietnam veterans and their families as part of a nationwide 13-year-long tribute. Details: page 3.