A woman has revealed the heartbreaking reason for a highway billboard with an uplifting message for passersby.

In bold blue letters for commuters on US Highway 71 in Kansas City are the words, “you are human. You are loveable (sic). You are strong. You are enough”.

The 26-year-old local artist behind the billboard, Nicole Leth, hopes that beyond making someone’s day just a little brighter, the words of affirmation might just save the life of someone on the brink of suicide.

“I hope that this billboard will hold compassionate space to empower people to save their own lives by reminding them of their inherent truths and worth,” Ms Leth tells Yahoo.

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in America, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

And it’s a statistic that hits close to home for Ms Leth, as she lost her own father to suicide in 2010, when she was just 17.

View photos Nicole Leth was inspired to erect the billboard after losing her father to suicide. Source: Facebook Caroline Adams/Nicole Leth More

“It shattered my world,” she says about her dad, who “was someone who I was so close with and had the same heart as I did.”

On that day, she recalls, “I made a promise to myself that I would spend the rest of my life trying to create beauty out of the tragedy and trauma that had just occurred.”

Ms Leth also made a vow that she would try to save a life with the art that she put out into the world or with the words that she wrote.

She started by printing out encouraging messages on stickers and leaving them in random places, and gifting them to strangers and loved ones.

But it took her nine years to finally make good on that promise in this big, bold way.

“What is effective is creating a space through affirmation, encouragement and compassion that empowers people to save their own lives. This is exactly what this Affirmation Billboard was put up to manifest,” she said.

Ms Leth, who works as a yoga teacher and an artist, funded the first ‘affirmation billboard’ herself by secretly putting away a few paychecks for several months.

According to Link Media, the company who put up Ms Leth’s billboard, over a million people will pass by her message in the month that it’s up.

View photos The 26-year-old local artist behind the billboard, Nicole Leth, hopes that the words of affirmation might just save the life of someone on the brink of suicide. Source: Facebook Nicole Leth More

“If it helps someone feel better, even just for a second, my goal has been accomplished,” Ms Leth told Yahoo.

The board was erected on July 22 and Ms Leth said it had a bigger impact than she imagined.

People have told her the affirming words helped them feel like they could hang on for one more day and supported those mourning the loss of a loved one.

“I lost my 16-year-old daughter to suicide two years ago,” one wrote on Facebook.

“Because of this you may just saved a life! And a life saved is a family that won't know the horror of losing a loved one to suicide. It is a life sentence of pain from losing them.”

Ms Leth says the response to her Affirmation Boards has made “all the hard things and low points I went through with the loss of my father and the years that followed” have meaning and purpose.

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