(Editors Note, this is a re-posting of an earlier article written by Melissa)

I’m tired, sick and tired (only partially owing to a ferocious head-cold inherited from my visiting mother) but it’s not all flu-symptom-related.  I rose from my sick bed this morning to read The Age website as I usually do, and was struck by a much more weakening syndrome, under the heading “Tributes flow for radio host”.  In case you haven’t read it, I’d like to break it to you gently, but I’m afraid news like this is never gentle.  Richard Marsland, a gifted comic and quick-off-the-mark buttons man, arguably most famous for his work in the Get This program of 2006-2007, has been found dead in his car.  “Police say his death was not suspicious.”

I don’t agree.  The death of another person at his or her own hand is more than suspicious, it’s downright damning.

I want to ask why, but I know that depression is a dreadful and insidious disease, and that there are many great initiatives out there to try and combat this sort of violence.   Yet despite the amount of times that Denton has been on television spruiking the message that we really need to talk, about the disease, about where to get help, about who has it and how they have come to terms or managed to combat it, we are still losing so many people.  It hurts when it’s our best and our brightest, or our young, or our fathers or mothers or our friends.  That is to say, it hurts, every time.

So I don’t want to talk to “depressed” people, I don’t want to talk to the people getting treatment, I want to talk to you.  My fellow Get This fans.  My fellow 30-somethings.  My friends.  My husband and parents.  My sisters, all 4 of them, and my little brother, and their partners, friends, colleagues, school mates and clients.  My in-laws and their in-laws.  I want to say to everyone, you are all going to be depressed, you will all feel low, and it’s not the ones who have been diagnosed with depression; it’s not just the ones we know about and are watching that we lose, it’s you guys.  Every one of you has to know that it’s far worse to leave than it is to stay and fight.  Unlike a street-brawl, this is the one match that you will lose if you run.

Anyone who entertains the thought, but who thinks they are normal or ok needs to be reminded that it’s you who we’re talking to.  I want you to know that we are here for you, that as a friend, as a community, as a society, we care about you.  We want you to have a good day at work, or at school, or at home.  When you’re asked “How are ya?” we want the truth, because we want you to make it home again tomorrow night, and every time you go out, and we don’t want to have to worry about you being on your own.

I'm both angry and sad at this loss.  I want to be able to push back time, to seek you out, Rich, and tell you that you're loved, and that nothing could be so bad as to make you take yourself to a secluded spot and end your own life.  Nothing.

Like the global population of music lovers in the late 70’s waiting for the Beatles to reform, I couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe my favourite radio team would get back together.  Another dream that has been shattered by a senseless killing.  I’m sure the current line-up of Crowded House are as great as they ever were too, but I can’t get past the fact that they’re missing Hessie, and must be poorer for it.

Richard, every time I listen to the podcasts of you with Tony and Ed, I’m now going to be reminded of your passing.  You’ve forever altered my perception of a wonderful show, along with it my morning and afternoon tram rides.  I’ve had you guys on loop ever since you went off air – I am currently onto my second loop, at podcast 70.  I’ve just had you and Pauline getting “hot and heavy” in my ears, and I was loving it.  Your work as Bob Dylan leaves me in awe every time I hear it, and I You-Tube it often.

Now to be selfish, my fantasies of the reunited team have been shattered.  Like many fans I wanted you all back together, but how to go back now?  Without you it won't be  Get This.  Should Ed and Tony reunite, even for the best reasons, all the old fans will be suspicious.  And your mates deserve better than that, but more importantly, so did you.  You were bigger than a footnote on the scene.   By leaving us at only 32 years old you didn’t do us, your friends and fans, or yourself, justice.  And that’s the biggest loss.

To end I can only think to quote Helen Razor at the death of another terribly missed talent, a one Mr Cobain.  “We love you and we miss you but we think what you did is piss-poor”.