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Siri Daly opens up about brother's suicide on World Mental Health Day

She wrote a touching remembrance of her brother, Morgan Pinter, who died by suicide in April, to help raise awareness of an important issue.
/ Source: TODAY

Siri Daly opened up about her younger brother's death with a heartfelt remembrance as part of World Mental Health Day on Wednesday.

The cookbook author, TODAY contributor and wife of TODAY’s Carson Daly wrote an Instagram post revealing that her brother, Morgan Pinter, 28, died by suicide in April.

"I’ve struggled with the idea of being vocal about this, but if I’ve learned anything from the times we’re living in, it’s that using our individual voices to speak up on important, often difficult topics can be significant in so many ways,'' she wrote. "Last April, my younger brother committed suicide. It has taken me awhile to even put those words together, but they are facts.

"Other facts: he was a deeply kind, profoundly smart person. He loved his family, and his girlfriend, and he continuously fought to be well."

His death was part of a trying time for the family, as Carson's mother and stepfather died less than a year earlier.

Siri also sought to bring attention to the issue of suicide, pointing out that more Americans suffer from depression than heart disease, cancer and HIV/AIDS. Nearly 7 percent of American adults — an estimated 16 million people in 2016 — had at least one major depressive episode, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

In May, doctors at Vanderbilt University looked found a dramatic increase in young people thinking about or attempting suicide in more than 115,000 cases over the past decade.

"But, it can be diagnosed and treated,'' Siri wrote. "Suicide can be prevented."

Earlier this year, Carson opened up about his own struggle with generalized anxiety disorder.

Daly and her family will be participating in the Out of Darkness Walk on Oct. 21 in New York City's South Street Seaport in Morgan's memory. Out of Darkness walks have been held across the country to raise awareness and funds for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, which has a goal of lowering the annual suicide rate by 20 percent by 2025.

"No one should feel alone,'' she wrote.

If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide please call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text TALK to 741741 or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for more additional resources.