I’m sorry, but if you are looking for sports, please come back another time. I am writing about depression and its devastating effects upon a family.
Monday night, my niece took her own life. She was 24. She overdosed on pills, and passed away in front of my son and her uncle, despite the valiant efforts of San Antonio EMT’s. She left behind a devastated girlfriend, mother, several relatives, including myself; and an EMT team who gave it all in an effort to save her.
As you know, I went to my uncle’s funeral and got back to San Antonio Monday AM. The suicide occurred Monday PM. I find my niece’s suicide much more devastating than my uncle’s passing. My uncle had a family. He had lived a full life, had an adoring wife, children, grandchildren and a home. He was solidly into his faith. Unfortunately, he also had Alzheimer’s. My niece ended her own life when she was 24, and she had only begun to live her life. She had enrolled in school, and had a part-time job in a band.
She left a video describing a years-long addiction to OxyContin; she had ankle surgery and lasting pain as a result and she never got over her parents divorce. She had spent all her money on her addiction. In addition she was taking prescription antidepressants. In the end, she left a note stating she wanted to die. That in itself is an issue, because we know antidepressants mixed with other prescription drugs can create unintended problems.
One of my old girlfriends used to say suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. I’m sorry, there isn’t a good reason to commit suicide if you are a young person and in relatively decent physical health. She wouldn’t have hurt a fly. She was a good girl; she was a fun person.
In public.
We honestly don’t know what she was going through. I can’t say I knew. We really didn’t see that part of her; the part that would drive her to killing herself. We didn’t know she had an addiction. She planned her suicide well. She made sure she wouldn’t be interfered with by anyone who would stop her; she made sure they wouldn’t get to her in time, and she took the time to explain why.
On my Facebook page, I wrote to my “friends”: “If you don’t listen to anything I say, listen to this: Depression is a bitch.” It is. It’s hard to see. It’s harder to get someone help for their problems. If you don’t know what it is, you can live with it…or be around someone living with it…for a long time.
There was no good reason for my niece to kill herself. People loved her. She had a person in her life who truly loved her. It wasn’t like she had been abused for years; she had not. She simply expanded an uncomfortable situation into a situation where she saw no other way out, Finally, suicide is a very selfish act. People left behind often tear at each other, looking for reasons where there are none.
The only thing I know is, it shouldn’t have happened. Our family is crushed over this.
