Choosing Hope: A Mother's Story of Love, Loss, and Survival

A chronicle of family love, unspeakable loss, and the power of healing

Ginny Dennehy was living the dream: a good marriage, two wonderful teenagers, a fulfilling career. Life in Whistler, B.C., seemed tailor-made for her outgoing, athletic family of four. But in 2001, the world turned upside down when her son, Kelty, committed suicide at the age of seventeen, hanging himself in the loft of their family home. Lost in a fog of grief, Ginny found the strength to go on. She poured her energy into the Kelty Patrick Dennehy Foundation, raising both funds and awareness to fight depression-related suicide by young people. And then, just eight years after losing Kelty, another unfathomable tragedy: her daughter Riley died of a heart attack in Thailand. She was just twenty-three. Candid and deeply moving, Ginny's powerful story will serve as an inspiration for others struggling with the weight of grief.



About the Author
Ginny Dennehy and her husband, Kerry, lost their teenage son to suicide in 2001 and 8 years later they lost their daughter, Riley, to a heart attack. Ginny is devoted to maintaining her children's legacy through the Kelty Patrick Dennehy Foundation and and the Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre. Shelley Fralic is a veteran Vancouver Sun journalist. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.