One year ago, syndicated radio host Delilah Renee Luke — known professionally as just Delilah — experienced the unimaginable: Her teenage son Zack killed himself at 18.
She took some time away from her job to grieve but is now back on the air and also has a new book out called "One Heart at a Time," sharing personal stories and life lessons to hopefully inspire others to examine their own lives and find purpose about what really matters.
Delilah, who also lost her son Sammy in 2012 at 16 from complications from sickle cell anemia, has raw advice for people on what not to say to parents who lose their children.
Radio personality Delilah poses for a portrait in New York on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018, to promote her memoir, "One Heart at a Time." (AP PhotoMark Lennihan)
"The worst thing you can do is say, 'I know how you feel.' Please don't say that to somebody who has lost a child because unless you have lost a child, you don't know how I feel. Please don't say 'He's in a better place.' I have an amazingly strong faith and I believe that my two boys are at rest with my Lord. I don't want them there. I want them here, so telling me they're in a better place is a knife to my eye," she said. "They are supposed to be in a better place when they're 70 or 80 or 90, not 17 or 18."
She continued: "Don't say to somebody who has lost a child, 'Well, they're a little angel now looking out for you.' My son is not a little cherub floating. He wasn't a cherub here on Earth, for God's sake. You know, he was a wild child. He was passionate and he was crazy."
So what do you say when you want to say something to a grieving person?
Radio personality Delilah poses for a portrait in New York on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018, to promote her memoir, "One Heart at a Time." (AP PhotoMark Lennihan)
"Just say, 'I love you,'" she said. "'What can I do for you? Can I pick up the kids after school? Can I take you out to dinner? Can I bring dinner to you if you don't feel like leaving the house?'"
Delilah said people need to be talking about teenage suicide. "We need to be talking about it every day. You know, back in the day, we didn't talk about teenage pregnancy. We didn't talk about how to prevent STDs. We didn't talk about health care. When I was on the air and my grandmother died from breast cancer, I wasn't allowed to say 'breast cancer.' I had to say 'cancer' or 'women's cancer.'"
Suicide rates for teens rose between 2010 and 2015 after they had declined for nearly two decades, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Why the rates went up isn't known, but Delilah said talking about it might help.
"We're talking a lot more about things that used to be hidden or shameful but we need to talk about this epidemic," she said. "There are three kids in my community who took their lives within a few months of each other."
Online: http://www.delilah.com
Follow Alicia Rancilio online at http://www.twitter.com/aliciar
Veteran U.S. pilot Kaillie Humphries Armbruster got her second two-woman World Cup bobsled win of the season on Sunday, shortly before German star Francesco Friedrich's streak of 48 consecutive medal-winning finishes on the circuit came to an end.
Humphries Armbruster teamed with Jasmine Jones to win by the slimmest of margins in bobsled — one one-hundredth of a second. They finished two runs at St. Moritz, Switzerland, in 2 minutes, 18.40 seconds, while the Swiss team of Melanie Hasler and Nadja Pasternack was second in 2:18.41.
Laura Nolte and Leonie Kluwig of Germany were third in 2:18.43. The 0.03-second margin between the three medal-winning sleds was the closest in a World Cup race since 0.02 seconds separated the top three finishers in a two-man race at Whistler, Canada, on Jan. 23, 2016.
It was the 32nd World Cup win for Humphries Armbruster and the first for Jones.
"I knew that Kaillie and I could do it with fast pushes and a great drive,” Jones said.
Kaysha Love and Emily Renna were eighth for the U.S. in the two-woman race, while Elana Meyers Taylor and rookie bobsledder Jadin O'Brien — a national champion in track at Notre Dame — were 10th.
In the four-man race, Friedrich drove his sled to a sixth-place finish — his lowest in a World Cup two- or four-man event since January 2023. He had 19 golds, 22 silvers and seven bronzes in that 48-race streak since; one of those golds was later taken away following sanctions against a German brakeman.
Instead, it was Adam Ammour of Germany driving to the win — the first four-man victory of his career. Johannes Lochner of Germany drove to second and Michael Vogt of Switzerland was third.
Frank Del Duca was 16th for the U.S., which will unveil its Olympic teams for the Milan Cortina Games next week.
USA Luge's women's doubles team of Chevonne Forgan and Sophia Kirkby are going to the Olympics. The Milan Cortina Games will be the first to include women's doubles as a medal event.
Only 11 sleds are going to the Olympics in women's doubles, primarily the top-ranked sled from each competing nation. That means the U.S. team of Maya Chan and Sophia Gordon — a contending sled all season with more than enough standings points to qualify — likely won't compete at the Olympics, unless some nations decline their spot in the Milan Cortina field.
Also Olympics-bound for the U.S.: the men's doubles teams of Marcus Mueller and Ansel Haugsjaa, plus 2022 Olympians Zack DiGregorio and Sean Hollander.
The team will be unveiled by USA Luge on Monday and likely to be officially nominated by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee later this week.
In a World Cup women's doubles race at Winterberg, Germany, on Sunday, Jessica Degenhardt and Cheyenne Rosenthal from the host nation won in 1:26.710, followed by Selina Egle and Lara Kipp of Austria and Dajana Eitberger and Magdalena Matschina of Germany.
Germany also won the men's doubles World Cup race, with Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt prevailing in 1:25.599. Austria took silver and bronze; Thomas Steu and Wolfgang Kindl were second, Juri Gatt and Riccardo Schoepf were third.
Mueller and Haugsjaa were the top U.S. men's doubles sled, placing 10th.
Germany finished off a sweep of the day with a win in the team relay, with Austria second and Italy third. The U.S. was fourth.
Luge: World Cup men’s singles, women's singles Saturday at Oberhof, Germany.
Bobsled: World Cup monobob, two-man races Saturday at Altenberg, Germany.
Skeleton: Men’s, women’s and mixed World Cup races on Friday at Altenberg.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Austria's Selina Egle and Lara Michaela Kipp race through the ice channel, during the Women's doubles 1st run, at the Luge World Cup, in Winterberg, Germany, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (David Inderlied/dpa via AP)
Juri Thomas Gatt, left, and Riccardo Schöpf of Austria celebrate their third place in the doubles men competition of the Luge World Cup in Winterberg, Germany, Sunday Jan. 11, 2026. (David Inderlied/dpa via AP)
Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt of Germany celebrate their victory in the doubles men competition of the Luge World Cup in Winterberg, Germany, Sunday Jan. 11, 2026. (David Inderlied/dpa via AP)
Kaillie Armbruster Humphries of the USA in action, during the Women's Mono-Bob World Cup, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (Mayk Wendt/Keystone via AP)
Kaillie Armbruster Humphries/Jasmine Jones o thef USA in action during the Women's 2-Bob World Cup, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Mayk Wendt/Keystone via AP)
