Wednesday is Bell Media's Let's Talk Day, a day dedicated to encouraging Canadians to talk about mental health issues, and to break down the barriers and eliminate the stigmas that surround mental illness.

CTV Saskatoon's Chantel Huber took the opportunity to sit down with the wife of a Saskatchewan MP who lost his battle to the disease. Now, Denise Batters is sharing her story in the hopes of helping others.

Dave Batters was one of the country's youngest MP's when he was elected in 2004. His wife Denise says her late husband was friendly and charming as a politician and a man. "His personality was so outgoing and he was the kind of person who lit up a room."

He may have lit up the room, but Dave also suffered through some dark days. Almost four years into his political mandate, Dave began to experience extreme anxiety. Denise says the illness was debilitating at times.

"Being nervous and stressed out but just to an extreme degree, where you just feel your mind is racing so much you can't sleep. You can't sleep and you can't eat," explains Denise.

Dave was put on prescription medication to ease his anxiety. But as he tried to cope, his pill use escalated and he became dependent on the drug. Dave was hospitalized and put on a detox plan, but ended up slipping into a deep depression.

"It scared us both, how quickly this all happened. Life was pretty great for us right before all of this happened and then it all just tumbled down very very quickly," says Denise.

Then, after months of battling depression, the worst outcome occurred. On June 29th, 2009, Dave committed suicide. He was just shy of celebrating his 40th birthday.

"No matter how you might kind of steady yourself for that possible outcome, you are never prepared for that."

Although it wasn't what Denise had been hoping for, she is trying to make the best of it. A year after Dave's death, she held a golf tournament in his honour. The proceeds helped to produce a television commercial targeting men between the ages of 30 and 50.

Denise says men between 30 and 50 are sometimes reluctant to talk about mental health problems. "They think it's weak to admit they need help but it isn't. It isn't weak or unmanly to admit you're suffering from something. It's a mental health issue."

But Denise says these mental health issues can be treated, with help. It's not easy to ask for help, but she knows firsthand it can mean the difference between life and death.

"If this could happen to Dave, this could happen to anyone."