“My body was shaking. Handful after handful of pills, I could feel myself fading away. I remember the familiar sound of sirens blaring. ‘Lay still!’ I cried and screamed and tried to fight as they held me down. The nurse said, ‘I have to do this if I’m going to save your life and I have every intention of doing just that.’ I was begging to die.”
‘A guy passed me and asked, ‘Are you okay?’ I was preparing to jump into the cold lake and end everything once and for all.’: Suicide attempt survivor urges ‘the sun will shine again for you’
‘I was waiting at a red light when I lost consciousness. I called my Sergeant. ‘I’ve been in an accident. Something isn’t right.’: Officer credits rottweiler for saving her life post-traumatic brain injury
“Against my doctor’s orders, I requested to go back to full duty. I was no longer the same smiling, positive person I once was. I had constant headaches. Everything was foggy, and the world became so loud I was always nauseated. Everything and everyone irritated me, including my husband. When we found out we were expecting, I was filled with fear.”
‘Molly wasn’t safe. The naive side of me thought, ‘She could never do anything harmful.’: Dad describes helping wife through postpartum depression, ‘Know it will get better with help’
“A few days had passed after her initial statement about ‘not wanting our child.’ I had always known her to ‘say a few things’ to get a reaction. She wasn’t safe.”
‘My husband called me at work. I went completely numb. I remember saying, ‘I love you, brother.’: Woman loses brother to suicide, ‘He had such a pure heart’
“The hospital gave us a Build-A-Bear which plays your recorded heartbeat when you squeeze it – Alivia loves to squeeze it and tell us she is hugging Uncle Corey.”
‘An alert popped up from a woman named Dani. When I confronted him, he dropped the bomb. Dani was a man.’: Woman feels guilt over ex-husband’s infidelity and suicide
“Charles confessed that for years, he felt attracted to men and he thought getting married to me would make him normal. ‘It’s part of me, but I want you to stay.’ He said that he would try to ‘fix it,’ and that he loved me. I received a message from a Facebook friend. ‘Have you heard what happened to Charles?’ He was found in the woods.”
‘I made a choice after he died. I chose to stop being silent about the truth.’: Widow who lost husband to suicide advocates for mental health, ‘I promise, with every heartbeat, there is hope’
“Surviving the suicide of my first love and my kids’ father was a twist I never thought my life would take. But here we are, three years later, still living on after the whiplash of the tragedy which changed our lives forever.”
‘The bullying from doctors was scarring. I felt a lump and started to shake. My self-esteem was rocked.’: Woman battles aggressive breast cancer after serious arm injury, ‘The harder it got, the more people showed up’
“The nurse I was assigned to made fun of my face painting and I got incredibly sick. I stood next to our car, afraid I would fall over while I screamed, ‘NOT ME!’ over and over again in broad daylight. I asked him one question, ‘Am I going to die?’ He didn’t answer.”
‘Food was for ‘growing boys.’ I would take an empty lunch box to school so I looked like I fit in.’: Woman overcomes lifetime of eating disorders, ‘I love me for me’
“I was a talented singer, but because of my looks, I was never picked for the lead. I wasn’t the pretty leading lady in Mary Poppins – I was a chimney sweep. One year, I was asked to sing for the lead role but stand in the wings out of sight, while another person acted.”
‘I was the superficial party girl. I lost my fabulous cleavage and all my beautiful hair, the two things I felt made me beautiful.’: Woman finds self-love after battle with breast cancer, ‘It gave me the kick I needed to transform’
“I wasted most of life achieving nothing. There was no dancing on the bar with cleavage showing and crazy, curly hair. I had to find another way to make myself happy, I had nowhere else to look but within myself.”
‘I wanted it. It was my fault.’ I didn’t report the crime because no one would believe a schizophrenic.’: Woman with schizophrenia overcomes abuse, finds soulmate, ‘Everyone deserves love and beauty in their lives’
“It started with neglect and evolved into mental, emotional, and physical abuse. I endured this silently, for I thought it was what I was destined for. All the while, I was hearing voices and believing I was seeing dead people. My husband went along with my delusions. I truly thought I was a vampire and he encouraged it.”
