In the UK suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45, according to CNN. One person takes his own life every 90 minutes, the same amount of time it takes to play a match of soccer.

Leon McKenzie was a professional soccer player in the late 90’s to early 2000’s. In 2009 McKenzie tried to take his own life in his hotel bathroom by overdosing on pills.

Now, McKenzie is hoping he can help others by speaking out about his own mental issues.

“I’ve been very open about trying to take my life. And I totally did that, I tried to take my own life. That led to fortunately, me waking up in the hospital and having another chance,” he told CNN.  

According to CNN,  McKenzie believes that “the stigma surrounding the judgement of people with mental illness and men’s pride are the biggest obstacles in combating these high suicide rates.”

After suffering from a strained hamstring during a game against Charlton, he was emotionally depressed from this injury.  The pain he felt was as if “someone [was] taking my heart out of my chest” and thinking “I actually want to kill myself.”

After going back to his room crying, McKenzie remembers people walking by making him feel alienated.

“I don’t think people really speak to someone they see crying especially a man.”

After retiring from soccer after 18 years, he became a professional boxer. It provided something extraordinary to his life.

“I think my advice to anyone who has lost themselves in life, is to reinvent yourself. And that’s exactly what I did,” he said.

“Men have this pride factor that comes into play, and that’s what I’m trying to change.”

McKenzie states, “It’s a nice inner peace that you hold through your own journey because you know that, through what you’ve spoken about, is going to help another person, if not save a life.”

McKenzie also states that talking may open up a lot of doors for men to come forward and have the confidence to be able to talk. Mckenzie wants everyone going through a tough time to try to talk about anything that makes them happy. He also wants people to help out by talking to people they may think are going through a tough time.