Our Child Attempted Suicide |
How Do We Cope Now?
A short time ago I received a very upsetting email from one of our community members. At that time her son was recuperating from a suicide attempt. She had discovered him, very sleepy after taking tranquilizers. His condition was critical. They almost lost him. They are now recuperating as a family and reaching out for support from other families or parents who have gone through a similar situation.
Her son was being bullied at school. He saw ending his life as a solution to his pain. Here are some of her comments:
"We has an awful scare a few weeks ago. As I turned from the computer I noticed that my eldest son didn't look well and as I looked closer realized we had an emergency on our hands. He had O.D.ed on a nerve medication and he was dying. By 18:49 we were at hospital and he wasn't breathing. He was airlifted to Moncton and was in the cardiac unit until Wednesday and in pediatrics until Friday when we took him to our local hospital so we'd be closer to home. We had a lot of people praying for him and the doctor says it's a miracle he made it. He's home now and all is well except he won't be returning to school where he was being harassed.
This was his first year in high school. He wasn't complaining and we thought everything was fine. He had been harassed the years before and would ask him how it went, he always said great. When his marks went down, he would tell me that I didn't have a clue at how hard he was really working, and now I know what he meant. It must have been very hard for him. He was a prisoner in all the schools he attended. Three in all. He couldn't go outside, someone would be waiting. After this we told him he wouldn't have to go back. Then he spilled the beans, and all we could do was cry with him at the cruel treatment he had endured.
The system failed him and no child deserves that.
Do you know of parents who live with kids who are suicidal? I was wondering, if a child tries suicide once, when things go wrong again, will he always think this is the answer? He can't promise me he'll never do it again....Says he's been thinking about it for a long time. Thought about hanging, stabbing, but these would have been too painful. He wanted to just go to sleep and never wake up. He's been out of school for almost a month, and only now is starting to have nightmares about bullies at school. He tells us his worries now though. So at least we can talk about it.
It would be helpful to see how others are coping with this. Also it would be interesting to know if anyone knows of happy adults who as children attempted suicide and how they surfaced, are they ok today? Are they successful? Do they still think of suicide when things go wrong? Are they constantly living on the edge? These are things that would rasure us I think. And to these kids too , for them to know that things will look better someday. My son at the time didn't realize he was hurting us. He thought we would be happy knowing he was at peace. When he was getting better in hospital he asked me if I had wanted to die at some time? He asked his father that too.
>I think it would be helpful to communicate with someone living the same nightmare."
We would like to assist this family by putting them in touch with others who may be able to offer support by sharing their experiences. If you have any helpful information or have been through this yourself, please send an email. Thank you.
