The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday July 19, 2008 - 3 Sara Carlin: A life cut way too short By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF I t has been more than a year, but her room is still largely the way she left it. Her iPod sits in its charger, her schoolbooks remain on their shelves and her clothes wait on their hangers for an owner who will never return. This is the room of Sara Allison Carlin, an 18-yearold graduate of St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Secondary School. Sara's parents described her as a beautiful, intelligent young woman of limitless potential, who was looking forward to finishing university so she could pursue a career in dermatology. Instead, on Sunday, May 6, 2007, Sara, suffering from the side effects of a powerful anti-depressive drug, grabbed a piece of electrical wiring, fashioned a crude noose and hanged herself in the basement of her parents's house. Today, Sara's parents are speaking out about what happened to their daughter to celebrate her short life and to warn about the possible dangers of antidepressive drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). "Sara was beautiful inside and out. She was very very warm hearted and hardworking," said Rhonda Carlin, Sara's grieving mother. "We talked to the teachers...after...and her math teacher had said that Sara was helping the other kids, even in her own grade with math because she was so good at it." In addition to being academically strong, Sara had a thirst for athletics, especially hockey and rarely encountered a sport that she did not enjoy or excel at. "All through high school, she was very active in sports. She played golf, she was an excellent golfer, and she played with the men because she did not know any women her age that could keep up with her," said Neil Carlin, Sara's father. "She would snowboard. Her uncle taught her how to ski when she was 11 and she was an expert skier by the time she was 18. She liked wakeboarding and soccer and a lot of other things. She really put her heart into this stuff and I think she had a lot of natural ability." With so many things going for her, Sara was never short of friends in high school. But where some young women might have let this success go to their heads, Sara remained grounded and eager to welcome others into her circle of friends. "She would go into the cafeteria and if there was someone sitting alone she would sit down with them and then her friends would all come," said Rhonda. "She had a very kind heart." The joy in Sara's life only increased as she began her last semester of high school. Her grades continued to be outstanding, soon earning her the distinction of being an Ontario Scholar, plus she had been accepted at the University of Western Ontario's Health Sciences program. But it was during this time of happiness that Sara began a dark descent that would eventually claim her life. See Caught page 4 SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER CALIFORNIA & PLANTATION SHUTTERS · Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed · Serving Oakville with Shop at Home Service · Wood & Vinyl Shutters, Supplied & Installed · High Quality at Affordable Prices Shop at Home Service Authorized Eclipse Shutters Dealer FREE SHUTTERS ETC. 905.691.4455 · www.shuttersetc.ca