Joanne Lee, whose son took his own life in September, spoke on transgender acceptance to a community-packed church in Stevens Point Thursday.

"When he was eight or nine years old he came to me and told me with very sad eyes, 'Mom, I know this is my body but I don't feel like this is my body," a tearful Lee said before her first public discourse Thursday evening.

"I have two daughters biologically, but they came out as transgender sons two years ago," she recalled.

She said her Korean roots made it hard to accept them.

"I didn't understand them," she said. "My upbringing was very conservative and very strict and I didn't open my heart to them."

But even in the U.S. depression and suicide rates are alarmingly high. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 41 percent of people who are transgender have attempted suicide at one point in their lives.

"I cannot go back and restore his life. But now, I can go back and help the other parents who cannot accept the transgender children because I was one of them," Lee said.

Acceptance didn't come at first, but since Skylar left, it's her mission to help others understand.

"Skylar, I love you. I love [you] as who you are. I'm really sorry that I didn't accept you. I'll walk with you wherever you go and I'm going to help you."