Throwing It All Away

This book is a narrative nonfiction memoir detailing a young man's depression, drug use, eventual suicide, and the grief and guilt experienced by his mother. Sam was a very bright and ambitious young man. He was always calm and thoughtful, and considerate of all others. The Manuscript consists of three parts: Part I. Losing Sam: The first chapter of the book tells the story of the day that Sam went missing and the search for him. This part then transitions to walking the reader through the early years of Sam’s life. We then pick back up on the day we discovered Sam had died, the aftermath, and the impossible goodbye. Part II. Sam’s Decline: The second part of the book shows how a family struggles with mental illness. The complexity of getting care is examined. This part of the narrative includes some chapters written by Sam. His writing was discovered after his death in various forms—legal pads, Google Drive, One Note, and other Word documents on his computer. Part III. Searching for Hope: The third part of the book deals with an exploration of the afterlife, from a metaphysical standpoint. This progression of spirituality came about largely due to signs and visitations of the Afterlife, engineered by Sam for his mom The stories related in this portion will leave the reader with hope, rather than despair.