Meet Fergus, a 26 year old hybrid athlete from Edinburgh, and his 6 year old French Bulldog, Odie, who ultimately saved his life from an extended period of severe loneliness.On the 9th May 2016, Fergus attempted suicide after a silent battle with depression that lasted for almost two years. Two days after he regained consciousness, he received a message from a friend saying, 'I'm getting a puppy from this litter next week, you in?'. Fast forward a week, and he had Odie.
"Odie was the key that unlocked the door for me - which was talking about my feelings, allowing me to abandon that masculine ego side of things and really come to terms with how I was feeling. He became an integral part of keeping me social, keeping me with a routine and keeping me accountable."
Fergus & Odie's Story
Fergus has kindly explained his and Odie's story in the below video. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we did, and if there's one thing we can all take away from it, it's that one conversation could save a life. So check in with your family and friends regularly, and take time to engage in a conversation on your next dog walk, because let's face it - you never know what someone is going through.
Young Scot Awards 2022
Founded in 2006, the Young Scot Awards was created to recognise the efforts of young people across Scotland who had been doing fantastic things for their community.
On April 27th, Fergus was awarded a 'Young Scot of the Year' for the health and wellbeing category, in recognition of his work over the past 4 years to encourage young people to open up about their mental health struggles.
Since 2018, he has been fundraising for different mental health charities and has raised over £100,000 in total. Not shy of a challenge, he recently endured a 94 mile run, squatted 125,000kg in 24 hours and climbed Ben Nevis, up and down, for 11 days straight!
Serving as a role model to the younger version of himself, Fergus hopes that through his story and his efforts he can help people to start talking about their own mental health and having a conversation that could in turn save their life.
Mental Health Resources & Support
If you are struggling with the topics discussed in this article, CALM have a wide range of friendly and practical guides that may help you to understand the challenges you're facing and help with ways to move forward.
For more support, please refer to this list of UK resources.
