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Friday, October 10, 2008

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LIFE WINS

BHS grad's chronicle of struggle earns writing honor

By JODIE TWEED

Staff Writer

BAXTER - Thor Nystrom admits he probably should be dead.

But Nystrom, a 2003 Brainerd High School graduate, survived his harrowing battle with mental illness, a struggle that nearly cost him his life.

His highly personal and emotionally charged experience, which he chronicled in a story that ran in his college newspaper in May, recently won first place in the feature-writing category in Rolling Stone magazine's 33rd annual College Journalism Competition. The award is mentioned in the October issue of Rolling Stone.

Nystrom, 24, is the son of Bob and Rachel Nystrom of Baxter.

In February, Nystrom was the only student in his Depth Reporting class at the University of Kansas who didn't have a topic for the class writing project. It was the final semester of his senior year at KU. He read a story about a girl's personal struggle with an eating disorder and it got him thinking about his own story of depression, which primarily took place during his freshman and sophomore years at college.

His mother, a Crow Wing County commissioner who worked for 30 years as a news reporter, initially tried to talk her son out of sharing such a painful story, since it would be published in the college newspaper. She knew what he had gone through and naturally wanted to protect him.

Thor Nystrom, 24, a 2003 Brainerd High School graduate and a May 2008 University of Kansas graduate, recently won Rolling Stone magazine's 33rd annual College Journalism Competition for his intimate story of how he overcame depression, which nearly cost him his life. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
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"He has a lot more courage than I've ever had," Rachel Reabe Nystrom said. "I'm so proud of Thor and proud of his courage. I've seen how his decision to do this has affected him."

Thor Nystrom was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder his sophomore year at BHS. He was prescribed medication that caused anxiety, and for the anxiety, he was prescribed another medication. Those two drugs, mixed with the beer he was drinking while a freshman at KU, led to out-of-control behavior that culminated with a fight, an arrest, and later, a suicide attempt in his parent's garage and a four-month stint at three area mental institutions. From various doctors, he was given several mental health diagnoses, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and placed on additional medications. As a result, he gained 140 pounds in one year. During the height of this struggles, his behavior caused him to lose many friends.

He decided that, once he returned to college in Kansas three years ago, he would quit taking all of his medications, despite protests from his parents. Since that time, Nystrom has had no recurring bouts with mental illness and lost the excess weight.

Nystrom used his medical and police records, along with interviews with loved ones, to piece together his story for his class writing project. He said it wasn't difficult writing his story since he tried to distance himself from the "abomination" he had become during that time. Reliving the ordeal through his writing was cathartic.

"It was very beneficial for me to deconstruct what happened," Nystrom said. "You bottle a lot of that stuff up and that's not healthy. It was very helpful to bring that to light, to hold it in front of me and look at where things went wrong and piece it together."

Ted Frederickson, who taught the Depth Reporting class, submitted Nystrom's story for the Rolling Stone competition. He praised Nystrom's story as "a goosebump-inducing narrative that followed Thor from the dark depths of despair to a personal triumph that left me with tears in my eyes. I have never found it easier to read such a long piece in a newspaper."

"The piece pulled off one of the most difficult feats in feature writing - telling a compelling and heart-rending story in the first person, one with broader relevance to all readers, without succumbing to pathos or sensationalism," said Eric Bates, executive editor for Rolling Stone and director of the College Journalism Competition.

Nystrom's story struck a chord with readers when it ran in The University Daily Kansan on May 5. He received more than 100 e-mails from readers.

"The response was amazing," Nystrom said. "I really can't put it into words. I definitely think my story was symbolic of a lot of people's struggles."

Nystrom graduated from KU with a major in journalism and minor in English in May. He spent the summer as an intern covering the Minnesota Twins for MajorLeagueBaseball.com, a job that ended Oct. 1. He has returned home to Baxter and is looking for a job in journalism, either in sports or feature writing.

Nystrom said that one day he would like to write a book about his story.

To read Nystrom's story, "To Hell And Back," visit The University Daily Kansan newspaper link: http://www.kansan.com/stories/2008/may/05/hell_and_back/?news.

JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.

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