“When the medics came in, they didn’t have that ‘okay, we have this under control’ look on their face. When I reached the hospital, I had no idea how to fill out the paperwork. I couldn’t tell you any of the answers. ‘Tell me what’s going on,’ I said to the doctor. He did just that, and it wasn’t looking good. I became a widow at 26.”
‘Hours after we kissed, he dropped to the floor. He had a heart condition no one knew about.’: 26-year-old widow travels the world to show late husband ‘the places he had wanted to see’
‘They would only keep me if I agreed to do electroconvulsive therapy. People warned me. I was told I shouldn’t do it. I felt I had no other option. To me, it was this or death.’
“I remember being rolled into an operation room while lying in a hospital bed. I looked up at the ceiling and prayed this would work. I was nervous. Quickly, the anesthesia knocked me out. I received over 10 treatments. My body ached, but not as much as my soul. I longed for peace.”
‘My 7-year-old child was taught how to attempt suicide. She was constantly told to ‘go kill yourself’ by other gamers. She was shown HOW to.’
“Sunday night, she had a full-blown anxiety attack. I held her and sang to her while she got through it. Monday, she drew this in school.”
‘His little voice begged me to wake up. ‘Don’t die, mommy. Don’t die, mommy.’ His hug, his kiss and his tenderness, lying next to me for hours as I sobbed.’
“Another fight left me to sleep in the guest room. My middle child, my baby boy, crawled into bed with me as my head throbbed and I couldn’t’ stop the room from spinning. Again. My loudest rock bottom came like a whisper – It was his touch.”
‘He was just gone. I came home one night to the apartment my boyfriend and I shared to find everything was missing. He terminated our lease and emptied our joint bank account.’
“Just a few weeks later, I woke up one morning feeling ‘different.’ I really can’t explain it, because it didn’t make any sense. But something in me, knew. I sat shaking with a pregnancy test in my hands. My body was barely functioning. But against all odds, two pink lines appeared.”
‘My worst nightmare was happening. I laid on the OR table gasping for air. ‘Help me! I can’t breathe!’ I stared into my mother’s eyes. I could see the fear written all over her face.’
“A huge splash of fluid hit the curtain in my face. All I could think was, ‘I’m going to die right here. I was born on this day, and I’m going to die on this day giving birth.'”
‘I attempted suicide as mightily as any 14-year-old girl could muster. Suicide is the greatest thing I’ve ever failed at.’
“My dances with death were on the same day, just 7 years apart. Extensive counseling and desperate journaling have left me without any explanation of why I subconsciously chose May 4th as the date I should die.”
‘Today is my parent’s anniversary. My dad is on hospice with only a short time left from cancer. We set up one last anniversary dinner for them to remember.’
“Their love story is beautiful. But most of all, he taught us all how to live, and now he is showing us all how to die. With grace.”
‘I got out of bed, got dressed, and left my apartment with no intentions of ever returning. I then pulled out my phone to request an Uber to a bridge in my area.’
“I began walking onto the bridge, passing a sign that held the suicide prevention lifeline number on it. ‘They can’t help me,’ I thought.”
$13.31. That’s how much I make an hour. Because I’m ‘JUST a Certified Nursing Assistant.’
“I’ve been their family on holidays when they had no other. I’ve combed their matted, snarled hair so they can look beautiful one last time before they pass. I’ve sung songs, told stories, held hands so they didn’t die alone.”
