Father walks 62 kilometres around Hong Kong Island in honour of son and suicide prevention
- Tony Bruno trekked anticlockwise around the island and raised more than HK$150,000 for suicide awareness
- Bruno, who tragically lost his son at 15, says getting people talking is crucial in helping erase the stigma around suicide
He also had the memory of his son Jamie to help him as well.
“He was with me the whole way,” said Tony, who completed the anticlockwise 62 kilometre trek in just under 13 hours. “I was doing it partly in his memory, partly with his spirit and partly to make the most of what is essentially a senseless death. And that is tough, but a lot of the way I was supported, and that eased things, my friends, colleagues were there with me too.”
Tony, 59, who completed the walk as part of the KELY Support Group, a local NGO which focuses on youth services and specifically the mental health realm, said it is also part of a week long event called Weez Week, which aims to help break down the stigma around suicide. Four years ago Jamie tragically took his own life at the age of 15. Tony’s walk started and finished at the Pok Fu Lam school his son attended.
In 2019, Hong Kong’s suicide rate was around 13 per 100,000 people, higher than the 12.3 figure reported in 2018. Hong Kong’s suicide rate among older adults is nearly twice the population average. For an international comparison, Hong Kong’s age-standardised rate was estimated at 9.7 in 2019, which is slightly lower than the global rate of 10.5.