Tragedy leads to new mental health ministry
Family’s tragedy leads to new mental health ministry at Newbury Park parish
The first thing Leslie Lenko did was show a visitor the cover photo of her 20-year-old son on the memorial Mass handout — a handsome young adult with stylish dark hair. He was smiling, and so was she right now. But only for a moment.
“My son had an act of suicide in November of 2017,” she told Angelus News. “It was a grave injury and he had surgery and he was in ICU for almost 10 days. Then he was in ‘end-of-life’ care because it was just too grave. So he passed away in the hospital the day before Thanksgiving in 2017.
“It was very difficult for all of us and especially the parish community that I’m involved with. There was an outpouring like you wouldn’t believe at St. Paschal Baylon in Thousand Oaks.”