8:28 AM
Mofazri
This is some thing I found online......
Who Was Matt Hughes?
Ever since I wrote a post or two about the late Matt Hughes (from Storm Chasers on the Discovery Channel), I have had a lot of visitors. I think many of you were stunned to learn he died in May and you're trying to ascertain precisely what happened. The big question on so many people's minds is: How and why did he die?
Sadly, my own research has indicated that Matt died due to complications encountered after a suicide attempt. To provide a little bit more information on who Matt Hughes was, I found an article from the Wichita Eagle and a blog post from KAKE-TV. Hopefully, this info will be helpful.
from the Wichita Eagle
Valley Center pair is part of Discovery's 'Storm Chasers' team
by Stan Finger
Opportunity can knock at the most unexpected times.
Just ask Brandon Ivey and Matt Hughes.
They were driving through a blizzard in Pratt County last March when fellow storm chaser Reed Timmer called them on the cell phone.
"Hey, I've got an opportunity for you," Timmer said.
The Discovery Channel program "Storm Chasers" needed someone who could forecast weather and help position other chasers during violent weather outbreaks for the new season of the cable show. Timmer had recommended the two friends from Valley Center.
"It was like a dream come true," Ivey said. "We started chasing (storms) practically from the moment we got our driver's licenses."
Footage from two months of chasing this spring will be the basis for the new season of "Storm Chasers," which debuts at 9 p.m. CDT Oct. 18 on the Discovery Channel.
They chased storms from mid-April to mid-June — a period that proved to be one of the quietest on record for Tornado Alley.
"It was like (finding) a needle in a haystack," Hughes said. "It was an extremely difficult season.
"We chased raindrops for three weeks straight."
Ivey, 29, and Hughes, 30, say their fascination with severe storms was born on the same day: April 26, 1991, when a tornado tore through Haysville, south Wichita, McConnell Air Force Base and Andover.
They were boys then, but they were still awed by the power of the storm...
from KAKE-TV
R.I.P. Matt
by Aaron Blaser
It was May 12th and I was typing away, preparing my next blog about how the city of Wichita really dodged a bullet on May 10th, when a tornado had its sights on the city. But on May 14th, everything changed.
One of our KAKEland StormChasers, Matt Hughes, was taken to the hospital after trying to take his life. This sentence is still hard to explain and even more difficult to express on a computer screen. Matt was in the hospital for several days in intensive care, there was a 24 hour vigil outside the waiting room, family, other chasers, business associates, etc.
I spent quite a bit of time bouncing from work to the hospital and back again...hoping for the best, comforting others, but several days later, after serious complications arose, I knew we were going to lose him.
I want to explain something right away, Matt was a young, vibrant, and resourceful man. One who embodies the passion everyone should have doing something they love. He would do anything for anyone, would try to make everyone happy, would try to do a good job for someone..and would never ask for anything in return.
What a lot of us didn't know was that he suffered from depression.
When Matt came to me in March of 2009 to tell me that him and his chase partner, Brandon, were picked to co-star in the Discovery Channel's hit show "Stormchasers" --I was excited! Matt was truly worried about his role for KAKE and that he'll not be able to do as much for us as he wanted to since he'll be away from the state a lot with the production crew. He then asked me what I thought about the show and whether he should do it. A veteran of several chasing shows myself, I told him to seize the opportunity because it may never happen again. He accepted the job and the rest is history.
For those who follow the show, Matt was the forecaster for Sean Casey's TIV (Tornado Intercept Vehicle)--he was responsible for placing Sean in front of tornadoes so he can capture IMAX quality footage for a future project. Matt did a fine job on the show, he was responsible for getting Sean his first legitimate close-up encounter with a tornado with his IMAX cameras. The producers of the show were so happy with Matt and Brandon that they signed up for a second season, of which principal shooting is wrapping up now.
The two of them this year were able to capture some amazing footage for the show, and for Sean. While the professional side of Matt was going fine, his personal life was nothing but.
I won't go into specifics here, but there was never any illegal activity, but an accumulation of issues at home were mounting, and he kept it to himself until the end...
Related post: To End It All, Suicide, and Thinking We Know
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