| Subject: Child prodigy's suicide came without harbingers |
Author:
Betty
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Date Posted: 12:03:10 03/19/05 Sat
Child prodigies are more likelt to commit suicide than average kids. There are few adult geniuses who haven't seriously concidered sucide at one point in their life... ESP in their youth.
It's a sad day & a great loss to mankind when these bright lights go out.
From the time he taught himself to read at 18 months, played the piano at age 3 and graduated from high school at 10, Brandenn Bremmer shocked and amazed people with the unfathomable talent of an academic and musical prodigy.
But this past week, at 14, he did something else that those closest to him struggle to understand: He took his own life.
"It was like he knew the time is here and he couldn't wait," said his mother, Patti Bremmer. "We know it was a spur-of-the- moment decision, that he had to do it then. But there were no signs. He was a happy boy."
On Tuesday morning, Bremmer had just finished recording his second music CD at his family's home in Venango, Neb., near the Colorado border. He and his parents listened to the collection over lunch.
Later that afternoon, when his parents returned home from grocery shopping, they found him with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. There was no suicide note.
Bremmer was brain-dead when he was transported to the Children's Hospital in Denver. He died Wednesday morning, his mother said, and his organs and tissue were harvested for donation in accordance with wishes he had expressed long ago.
"What he did was not an act of selfishness, depression or anger," Patti Bremmer said. "Brandenn was a giving person, connected to the universe in a way people don't understand."
Bremmer took some classes at Colorado State University in 2002, but he was encouraged to take it slow - "whatever sounded fun," his mother said. Then he took a year off before returning to Fort Collins for private music lessons.
But when he decided to work toward becoming an anesthesiologist, he transferred to North Platte Community College in Nebraska, where he made the 90-minute commute from Venango twice a week.
He planned to transfer to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln for his undergraduate degree before moving on to medical school.
"We never told him no," his mother said. "Whatever he wanted to do for his education, we did."
In Fort Collins, he studied keyboard improvisation under David Wohl, a special assistant professor of music at CSU who taught Bremmer as a private student.
"It's a cliché, but he really was a decent, fine young man," Wohl said. "He had an easy smile, an easy manner, he was unpretentious, and I enjoyed being his teacher. I just saw a young man who enjoyed inventing music."
And that music will be his legacy, his mother said.
"We're getting orders like every hour for his CDs," she said, referring to a collection of meditative piano pieces available on a website. "That's what's keeping us going."
Although suicide among youths has declined since 1992, it remains the third- leading cause of death in the 15-24 age group, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There's no profile for suicide - particularly among youth, said Shannon Breitzman, director of injury and suicide prevention for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. But usually, there's an underlying mood disorder.
"In most, a person gives off some kind of warning sign," Breitzman said. "Problem is, we don't often recognize the signs."
Patti Bremmer said she and her husband, Martin Bremmer, had long been aware that kids like their son could be more prone to suicide and, as a result, consulted two psychologists when he was about 7.
They worried that some red flag would be discovered, but both experts found their son happy and well-adjusted, his mother said.
"He worked hard; we were with him 24/7," his mother said. "We knew him inside and out. There wasn't something we didn't see."
Bremmer's academic and musical genius offered only a glimpse of his wide-ranging interests and spiritual depth, his mother said.
He did chores on the rural family property where they raise pure-bred dogs, played video games, had lots of friends, watched cartoons on TV and stayed physically active - normal kid things. He also revealed a strong spiritual side.
"We knew he was in touch with things we couldn't grasp, that no one else could fathom," Patti Bremmer said.
Although the family attended a Christian church in rural Nebraska, Bremmer gradually assumed the role of instructor on spiritual matters and took his parents in new directions.
"He was above religion," his mother said. "The way he taught it to us, most religions are like elementary school and the spiritual level is beyond collegiate level - most people can't grasp it. It shocked us, awed us, and then we had to learn more about it."
Memorial services will be held in Denver and Omaha, where other family members live, but Bremmer's parents said they won't attend.
"We're different people because of him," his mother said. "He pointed out how to examine ourselves, how we fit into the universe, how things worked together, and he moved us to a new level of awareness that we would never have considered."
Neb. teen took CSU classes
By Kevin Simpson
Denver Post Staff Writer
From the time he taught himself to read at 18 months, played the piano at age 3 and graduated from high school at 10, Brandenn Bremmer shocked and amazed people with the unfathomable talent of an academic and musical prodigy.
But this past week, at 14, he did something else that those closest to him struggle to understand: He took his own life.
"It was like he knew the time is here and he couldn't wait," said his mother, Patti Bremmer. "We know it was a spur-of-the- moment decision, that he had to do it then. But there were no signs. He was a happy boy."
On Tuesday morning, Bremmer had just finished recording his second music CD at his family's home in Venango, Neb., near the Colorado border. He and his parents listened to the collection over lunch.
Later that afternoon, when his parents returned home from grocery shopping, they found him with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. There was no suicide note.
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Bremmer was brain-dead when he was transported to the Children's Hospital in Denver. He died Wednesday morning, his mother said, and his organs and tissue were harvested for donation in accordance with wishes he had expressed long ago.
"What he did was not an act of selfishness, depression or anger," Patti Bremmer said. "Brandenn was a giving person, connected to the universe in a way people don't understand."
Bremmer took some classes at Colorado State University in 2002, but he was encouraged to take it slow - "whatever sounded fun," his mother said. Then he took a year off before returning to Fort Collins for private music lessons.
But when he decided to work toward becoming an anesthesiologist, he transferred to North Platte Community College in Nebraska, where he made the 90-minute commute from Venango twice a week.
He planned to transfer to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln for his undergraduate degree before moving on to medical school.
"We never told him no," his mother said. "Whatever he wanted to do for his education, we did."
In Fort Collins, he studied keyboard improvisation under David Wohl, a special assistant professor of music at CSU who taught Bremmer as a private student.
"It's a cliché, but he really was a decent, fine young man," Wohl said. "He had an easy smile, an easy manner, he was unpretentious, and I enjoyed being his teacher. I just saw a young man who enjoyed inventing music."
And that music will be his legacy, his mother said.
"We're getting orders like every hour for his CDs," she said, referring to a collection of meditative piano pieces available on a website. "That's what's keeping us going."
Although suicide among youths has declined since 1992, it remains the third- leading cause of death in the 15-24 age group, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There's no profile for suicide - particularly among youth, said Shannon Breitzman, director of injury and suicide prevention for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. But usually, there's an underlying mood disorder.
"In most, a person gives off some kind of warning sign," Breitzman said. "Problem is, we don't often recognize the signs."
Patti Bremmer said she and her husband, Martin Bremmer, had long been aware that kids like their son could be more prone to suicide and, as a result, consulted two psychologists when he was about 7.
They worried that some red flag would be discovered, but both experts found their son happy and well-adjusted, his mother said.
"He worked hard; we were with him 24/7," his mother said. "We knew him inside and out. There wasn't something we didn't see."
Bremmer's academic and musical genius offered only a glimpse of his wide-ranging interests and spiritual depth, his mother said.
He did chores on the rural family property where they raise pure-bred dogs, played video games, had lots of friends, watched cartoons on TV and stayed physically active - normal kid things. He also revealed a strong spiritual side.
"We knew he was in touch with things we couldn't grasp, that no one else could fathom," Patti Bremmer said.
Although the family attended a Christian church in rural Nebraska, Bremmer gradually assumed the role of instructor on spiritual matters and took his parents in new directions.
"He was above religion," his mother said. "The way he taught it to us, most religions are like elementary school and the spiritual level is beyond collegiate level - most people can't grasp it. It shocked us, awed us, and then we had to learn more about it."
Memorial services will be held in Denver and Omaha, where other family members live, but Bremmer's parents said they won't attend.
"We're different people because of him," his mother said. "He pointed out how to examine ourselves, how we fit into the universe, how things worked together, and he moved us to a new level of awareness that we would never have considered."
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