’Legacy of love’: Mum Trish Evelyn continues son - and actor - Alex Cusack’s message after his suicide
When Trish Evelyn received the call that her son - a rising Aussie star - had ended his life, she thought her own heart would stop beating. Now she’s dedicating her life to spreading his message.
Lifestyle
Don't miss out on the headlines from Lifestyle. Followed categories will be added to My News.
When Trish Evelyn received the call that her son had ended his life she said she thought her “heart would stop beating with his”.
“I was with him the night before,” the 52-year-old told The Advertiser.
Actor, poet and former Rostrevor deputy head prefect Alex Cusack was only 21 years old when he died by suicide on April 15, 2021.
The young Adelaide man had made his acting debut in the acclaimed SBS drama series The Hunting alongside Offspring’s Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh. and had secured a spot in the semi-finals on the smash-hit TV show Ninja Warrior just a couple of year before.
He was a rising Aussie talent destined for great things.
Since her son’s death, Trish began The Big AL Foundation in honour of the actor’s death — a charity promoting emotional and nervous system regulation for kids and teens using breathing techniques.
“The very thing Alex took from himself, the breath, he has given back to me as a tool … for his generation,” Trish said.
The night before Alex died he was experiencing a broken heart, having had issues in a romantic relationship among other mental health struggles, he decided to call his mum for support.
“He was really crying and quite upset, it was late-ish, eight o’clock and I said I would come over,” Trish said.
“We talked and we shared music, because music was our love language … he shared his favourite song at the time.
“He didn’t know where to fit, everyone had said to him to go out and drink and do all the things that you do, be the man, sleep around … go drink, so he was doing that to a degree but it wasn’t really him, he wasn’t a drinker, he wasn’t anything like that, he didn’t do what other kids, young boys his age did.
“He just said to me, tears in his eyes, he said, ‘will it always be like this? Where do I fit? I can’t be who I am, I can’t be who everybody else tells me to be, where do I fit?’
“And I said, ‘Alex, you’re not meant to, that’s the point’.”
Trish said her “beautiful and gentle” son struggled to find his place in the world.
Before he died Alex said to his mum: “I want to live in a world where emotions are not right or wrong, black or white, male or female, they are simply part of being human”.
The Lightsview woman knew she was destined to carry on her son’s legacy and create a world where society “normalised emotions” especially for men.
“A collective belief has been handed down … men do not cry, men do not feel and silence is strength,” Trish said.
“None of those things are scientifically true.”
The Big AL Foundation runs emotional fitness programs for the next generation, teaching them that it is normal to feel their emotions, through regulating their breath.
Trish said her son was intelligent, well read and “deeply human”.
“There was something incredible about him, he was down to earth and action orientated, if something mattered to him, he did something about it, he didn’t just sit silently,” she said.
She remembered a time he sat in a rickety boat for hours, for charity despite vomiting from sea sickness or how he spent every holiday volunteering on camps for underprivileged people.
Now, Alex, or Big Al as Trish calls him, is “the guiding light” for Trish and the foundation is his “legacy of love”.
If you want to donate to The Big AL Foundation or get involved, you can here.
‘We need to talk about it’: Adelaide woman’s final act of generosity
When an Adelaide author’s death was able to save other people’s lives, her partner took it on herself to encourage other people to have the difficult, but important, conversation.
Global superstars feast at top Adelaide diner
One of global music’s hottest names and a world-renowned comedian have been spotted dining at an acclaimed Adelaide institution – within 48 hours of each other.