“I’ve been struggling with my mental health for years, however, I’ve always kept it hidden,” he said. “In front of my friends I’d try my best to be very happy and cheery, but then when I was alone or with people my mood would just drop off, and I would switch between those hourly.”

Brendan said he always felt pressured to do things for other people, and never did what he truly wanted.

But he recently opened up about his issues and is working through them.

“I lived with my foster family for about a year, then my dad regained custody of me and I lived with him for a little bit until my dad and stepmom got a divorce,” Talon said. “My dad wasn’t able to care for me again, so dropped me off at my grandmother’s house, who formally adopted me at age 7. That’s when my dad went to prison on drug charges.”

“A car pulled out in front of me and I hit the driver’s side,” he recalls. “I flipped over the car and was laid out in the middle of the street. My right leg got caught under the handle bars and the bone gave way to the impact as I was catapulted off.

“While I was still in the middle of a storm of lawsuits, disappointed family members and disappointment in myself, I decided to channel my rage in a new way. I used the gym as an outlet, a place to kill my old self, and watch my new self come to fruition.”