"A bright spirit:" Parents of teen lost to suicide celebrate his birthday in hopes of spreading awareness

RACINE -- The parents of a local high schooler lost to suicide are using his 16th birthday as a chance to remember his life and spread the word about suicide prevention efforts.

Cameron Langrell

Everything looks perfect for Cameron Langrell's 16th birthday celebration. The decorations are hung, the cake is set, the only thing missing will be the guest of honor.

"He loved to make other people happy and make other people smile. He was definitely a bright spirit," said Jamie and Eric Olender, Cameron's mom and stepdad.

Eric and Jamie Olender

Eight months ago, Cameron was a transgender 15-year-old who'd recently changed his Facebook gender status to female.

"He had just started dating a new boy and kissed that boy at school and he didn't go to school the next two days and it was that second day that he died," said Jamie.

His parents say he'd talked of suicide before, so they had him hospitalized and got him all the help they could. And shortly before his death he seemed to be doing fine.

"He was texting me that morning, 'I love you mom, can't wait to see you when you get home,'" said Jamie.

And then he was gone.

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Now, they're taking their tragedy and using it to further the conversation about suicide prevention, mental health care, and putting an end to bullying and cyber-bullying.

"You can't solve the problem unless you recognize that there is one, and I guess the more people talk about it the better it will get," said Eric.

For this night, they're going to celebrate the 16th birthday Cameron should have had -- and they're hoping his story can help prevent other families from facing the same heartbreak.

"Out of our grief, something good's going to come out of it," said Jamie.

At Cameron's party they planned to hold a 50/50 raffle to raise money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.