Lynn Roy speaks out as she fights to get ‘Conrad’s Law’ passed in Mass.

BOSTON — The mother of Conrad Roy, the young man at the center of the suicide texting case, met with two of the state’s most powerful lawmakers Wednesday in her crusade to prevent similar tragedies.

The House version of ‘Conrad’s Law’ just cleared its first hurdle and there’s now less than a week for the Senate version of the bill to do the same.

In her first interview since Michelle Carter’s release from prison, Lynn Roy sat down with Boston 25 News reporter Drew Karedes between her two meetings with the Massachusetts speaker of the house and the senate president.

The state rep and senator championing for ‘Conrad’s Law’ were there by her side to articulate the pain this could save other families from. But the persistence from the resilient mother may have the most powerful impact.

>>>MORE: Michelle Carter freed from jail after serving 11 months

“It’s been a long five years,” Lynn Roy said. “I haven’t been able to grieve him. It’s been harder than most people can even imagine.”

There was no lesson that could’ve prepared Lynn Roy for the loss of her son Conrad, but it’s his voice that’s now leading her to keep fighting.

“He was always asking me, ‘mom what can I do to help you?’” she said. “It’s the only big way that I can really honor him.”

When her son took his own life in 2014 by carbon monoxide poisoning, she says she never could’ve imagined how relentlessly he’d been encouraged. But the case against Conrad’s then-17-year-old girlfriend, Michelle Carter, which revealed some 60,000 text messages has opened Lynn’s eyes to a dark reality threatening those already at risk of suicide.

Related: All the texts between Michelle Carter and Conrad Roy the day he died

“In 10 years from now, the pain is never going to go away [from] losing him,” Lynn Roy said. “But I know if he has helped other families in the future it will bring a smile to my face.”

After Wednesday meetings with the Massachusetts speaker of the house and the senate president, Roy is cautiously optimistic that ‘Conrad’s Law’ can clear the necessary hurdles this session. The law would make it illegal to coerce someone you know is vulnerable into suicide.

“I think for those sending the texts, you’re not looking at them face to face, you’re not seeing their reaction, so you might be bolder with what you’re willing to push,” said Representative Natalie Higgins (D), a State Rep for the 4th Worcester District.

“He’s always in my heart every day, my memories,” Lynn Roy said. “But God I know he would be smiling, he would be so proud.”

Massachusetts is one of only eight states without a statute explicitly criminalizing coercion of suicide. Under current state law, defendants could face involuntary manslaughter charges. But Lynn Roy and others fighting for the bill to pass say introducing a unique, separate charge for coercing suicide would apply more directly and lead to fewer legal appeals.

>>>MORE: In wake of Michelle Carter’s release from jail, Roy family continues push for Conrad’s Law

Lynn Roy is really hoping those conversations at the State House Wednesday will help carry the bill forward in time.

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