Rehtaeh Parsons honoured at Bedford tattoo event for suicide prevention

The semicolon is a punctuation mark; it's used by writers to link two ideas.

But Leah Parsons, the mother of Rehtaeh Parsons, has a semicolon inked on her skin to represent something else; a life interrupted.

"Basically the sentence represents your life and you're the author, and the semicolon just means there's a pause, or a break," she said Wednesday. "The symbol of the semicolon tattoo is a reminder of that."

Parsons got the tattoo on her forearm Wednesday at a two-day event she's organized at Six Points Tattoo in Bedford to mark World Suicide Prevention day, which takes place Thursday.

The money raised will help fund a yoga program for victims of sexual violence and an empowerment weekend in the spring.

'Rehtaeh would love this idea'

"I was thinking that Rehtaeh would love this idea and she would definitely be here lining up to get this type of tattoo because all her tattoos are very meaningful to her," Parsons said.

"They were a way to try to bring herself back, to find her way back."

It's been two and half years since Rehtaeh, 17, took her own life in April 2013.

It marked the end of two years of torment after the teenager alleged she'd been gang-raped. Then a picture of the incident was shared online. Police initially refused to lay charges. In the wake of her suicide, child pornography charges were laid and a cyberbulling law was introduced.

As Rehtaeh Parsons battled depression, she turned to ink to get her through some of her darkest moments. She had Chinese characters tattooed on her arm to signify strength and courage.

"She was trying to find her way back and she put those symbols on her arm to remind herself," said Leah Parsons.

Now, Parsons has a permanent reminder of her daughter embedded in her arm. Time, she says, does not heal the wound of losing a child.

Pain part of life

"It doesn't get any easier. I just live in the moments between the pain now."

Pain, she says, is a part of the normal ebb and flow of life.

"We all have struggles and we all need people to talk to and we all need to know we're not alone, and the struggles are a part of life. Because a lot of times in our western society, and this culture teaches us that if we do A, B, C and D, we'll have a great life and that's just not true," she said.

"Everyone struggles in life. It doesn't mean that you have to end your life, there's help out there, there's friends willing to listen, and even when we feel in our darkest moments, just look for the moment of peace that you can find in the moments in between the pain."

The event at Six Points Tattoo continues at noon on Thursday.