About the author
McKenzie Kay Blumhagen was raised in North Dakota by her mother - Shauna Schneider, stepfather – Mark Schneider, and father – Greg Darling. She comes from an agricultural background with her mom and stepdad having a multigenerational farming operation, but she never imagined marrying a farmer. Little did she know, she fell in love with one just like that. Her husband – Ryan Blumhagen, and herself have a farmstead in rural North Dakota where they are raising their two daughters, - Isabelle & Eloise alongside their trusted Golden Retriever, Sedona.
The advocacy for Suicide Prevention is embedded into McKenzie after the loss of her cousin R.J. who you will see is one of the main characters of this book. It was only a year after his loss that McKenzie was treated as an in-patient in a psychiatric facility for her own suicidal ideation and self-harming behaviors. McKenzie has traveled to high schools around North Dakota to share her story and to educate students about how to cope with the overwhelming emotions they are encountering in their stages of life. Her hope and prayer are the conversations do not stop there.
Her most profound memory sharing her story with students was a time when she was on her way to a speaking event, and she rolled her car on black ice. She landed upside down, was safely able to release herself from her seatbelt and the state snow removal helped her exit her vehicle. She was able to call everybody necessary. She truly felt like Satan/Darkness was after her reaching those students that day so she called her mother (since she had limited service) and asked her to call the school she was heading to and inform them she would be late. Her mother gasped at the idea; but did as McKenzie wished. McKenzie was injury free with not even a scratch, Praise God! McKenzie's stepfather came to retrieve her, finished what was necessary with the police and escorted her the rest of the journey and she spoke to all three audiences that afternoon. Her husband calls it her "Teddy Roosevelt moment in time."