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'Let somebody know': Local football player's message to anyone battling depression

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A local high school standout now playing football at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said he used the sport to shield himself from the real issue he was facing -- depression.

Jake Lawler is a son, a student, an athlete and a survivor.

"Middle school is when it happened, he said. "When it started. I didn't really know what I was going through. I just knew that I felt different."

Lawler said he was bullied because of his appearance, and wasn't as accepted as he wanted to be.

"I made the football team, but because I was biracial I wasn't as accepted as I wish I would've been," he said. "Because of my appearance I was also bullied because of that. The constant resurgence of all these things going on day to day. I remember my sophomore year I just wanted to die."

In his lowest moments, Lawler said he tried to take his own life, twice. His most recent attempt was in January.

"I really don't know what saved me at that point," he said. "I don't know if it was my parents, I don't know if it was my writing, I don't know if it was football. There's just something that told me not to."

Now, he's using his voice to conquer the stigma.

Watch the video above as Lawler opens up about the moment he reached his breaking point and the message he now has for others.