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the New Lenox Patriot | September 15, 2016 | 11
suicide
From Page 3
spoken to his sister or father
for 15 years, but the suicide
helped bring his family
back together.
That fact was his “message
of hope to anyone
dealing with a loved one’s
suicide.”
“I told my wife I’m never
letting these people go,
ever, and we have had the
most wonderful relationship
because we fought for that,”
he said, as he had been stoic
while telling his story, but
was at that point moved to
tears. “Nothing is worth
that separation, and we
never know how much time
we have left. My sister and
I have never been closer,
and my dad and I had the
best relationship for 11
years a guy could ever had
with his father, because
we took what was bad and
made something good out
of it.”
Among the attendees of
the event was Laura Wallace,
of Schererville, Indiana,
who has survived two
suicide attempts. Wallace
became depressed in the
spring of 2007, three years
after sustaining a traumatic
brain injury when she was
struck by a garbage truck.
She was prescribed antidepressants,
but the pharmaceuticals
provided no
relief.
“I was just feeling like
nothing’s going to change;
I’m not going to get better,”
she recalled. “I wanted it to
be over; I wanted the pain
to end. I had a hard time
functioning.”
After another bout with
depression in 2014, Wallace
was diagnosed as bipolar
and was prescribed medication
that worked, and she
has been doing well since.
Family members have told
her she seems like a different
person, she said.
“I feel very fortunate and
blessed that I’m still here,”
she said.
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