“As we do every Thanksgiving, we feature players who are not only excellent on the field but extraordinary human beings off it. This year our man of excellence feature is on Nighthawks Quarterback, Jason Jett Caraway.”
I immediately turn up the volume and sit on the bed and watch.
“Jett caraway might just be one of the fastest and most accurate arms in the league, but he’s also one of the most passionate about mental health, especially suicide prevention.”
“Hi, Jett.”
“Hey, Lou. Thanks for having me on.”
“Yeah, man, so let’s just jump in and talk about the work you do with your organization, Belief Village.”
“Belief Village is a national non-profit organization which advocates for the mental health of people who are at most at risk for suicide in their communities. We pay for therapeutic counseling, medication, and other resources. We also provide an alternative to in-patient hospital treatment at our small ranch in Texas.”
“I’d say it’s a little more than a small ranch. You serve over 100 clients, every day, three-hundred and sixty-five days a week, right?”
“That’s correct. We’re very proud that we have the capability of serving so many people who normally might not have received appropriate mental health services in their community.”
“And these are not just Texas residents.”
“So far we are working with seven states. We hope to expand that reach as more funds become available to us.”
“You’d also need a bigger ranch.”
“Yeah,” he grins.
God, I miss that smile.
“We’d probably need a bigger place.”
“Jett, tell us what made you so passionate about the work that you do? This is a very particular focus on mental health and suicide prevention.”
“Well, Lou, in the US alone, suicide is the tenth leading cause of death. Just last year, 47,511 people died by suicide. And the genuine tragedy is that we believe that we could have prevented many if not most of these deaths with strategic outreach at critical times.
“I became passionate about this cause after my mother, Gloria Caraway, committed suicide four well almost five years ago. There were periods during her battle with clinical depression that someone on her medical team should have advocated for her, but no one did. It’s my mission to fix our broken mental health system one person at a time.”
“That’s so powerful, Jett. And your organization works with at-risk youth as well?”
“Oh, of course. The pressures on our young students are tremendous and growing with each year. When I was in school, I can think of several student athletes who could have really benefited from our services. The way our system works now, it’s often the squeakiest wheel who gets the help. Many people fall through the cracks of the regular mental health system. I mean when was the last time the doctor at your well visit asked you how were coping emotionally?”
“Mmm, what a great point, and so fitting for the Thanksgiving Holiday. In honor and in the spirit of all that Belief Village does, Jett, the network would like to award you with this year’s Spirit Award. In addition, we are donating twenty-five thousand dollars to your organization, which the NFL has promised to match. So a total of fifty-thousand dollars to continue the outstanding work you are doing.”
“Thank you so much. This will help many people.”
I am floored.
There are actual tears in the corner of my eyes.
I’m so ridiculously impressed and proud of what Jason is doing that I don’t know what to do with myself right now. Why didn’t I find any of this information during my snooping sessions? This interview filled in so many missing gaps about who he is that the gossipy online articles didn’t.
He blames his mother’s suicide on his father.
He probably was worried about me slipping into some sort of depression after Troy, which is why he spent so much time making me laugh.
He is not just a ballplayer who makes obscene amounts of money throwing a ball.
He is so much more than that.
I wish he could have shared all of this with me, but of course that would have blown his entire cover. He would have had to come up with a series of new lies to cover up the other lies, and deep down I know that’s not who he is.
