On the eve of a WBBL semi-final appearance, the
Sydney Thunder all-rounder talks frankly about her father’s death and a desire to intensify the conversation about mental health issues
On 22 July, 2012, at about 9.30pm, Sammy-Jo Johnson dropped her father Robert home from a Lismore pub. At 8.30 the following morning she got the phone call – he had taken his own life. “That was it,” she says, “that was the last time I saw him.”
The pair had shared the evening with Sammy-Jo’s partner Brian and some
Friends. By that point, at 19 years old, the Sydney Thunder all-rounder had a more complete understanding of the bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and attention deficit disorder that had steadily picked apart a family man until he could no longer leave the house.