Dear Barb
Thank you for your involvement in this sad story - thru you we understand
how fragile we all are when  it comes to cd.  Being a teacher at 59, I
wonder how Bev's problems got started - perhaps her husband could tell us
how her life was like.  I feel badly for the family.  Sincerely.  Fleurette


At 08:09 PM 4/4/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Again, this group of people has responded amazingly to a request for
>help.  Within 15 minutes from the time I posted my request for help for
>"B", the first of about 40 messages arrived.  Many of them from people
>who had been where "B" was...in despair.
>
>The messages were powerful, open, caring and full of support and
>prayers.  What a truly wonderful group of people you are.
>
>On Friday, "A" came to pick up the messages which I had printed for "B".
>On Friday evening, "A" phoned to tell me that "B", Bev, had walked out of
>the hospital at 10:00 am and hadn't been seen since.  The police were
>called and searched for her.  The local newspaper published her photo and
>asked for help in locating her.  A private helicopter joined the search
>until it was called off because of darkness.  "A" joined the search this
>morning at 8:00 am and heard that Bev's body had been found washed up on the
>beach near the hospital.
>
>So, we lost.  We all lost.  But mostly her husband and her family and
>friends and Bev, herself.  She was 56 and had recently retired from
>teaching school because of Parkinson's.  Her husband had retired from his
>position as mayor of the city of Burlington, Ontario (near where I live)
>because of leukemia.... now, he'll face his battle with leukemia alone
>with the added burdens of grief and guilt.
>
>Besides being saddened by the loss of Bev, I'm angry.  Really angry. I'm
>angry at Parkinson's for taking the joy out of her life.  I'm angry at
>the hospital for not keeping her safe.  I'm angry at a health care system
>that has been cut back to the bare bones and beyond to the point where it
>was absolutely useless to Bev.  And I'm angry at Bev for not realizing
>the pain she would cause by taking the ultimate selfish step of taking
>her own life.
>
>What's next?  What would be the most useful or effective thing to do?
>Work towards publicizing the horrors of clinical depression?  Work
>towards improving the health care system?  Supporting each other when cd
>strikes (or does it just insiduously sneak into our brains?)?
>
>Or vow that we will NEVER, NEVER hurt our families and friends by taking
>ourselves away from them and making them suffer for the rest of their lives?
>
>Again, thank you to the wonderful people who tried to help.
>
>Barb
>
>============================================================================
>Barbara Patterson                               [log in to unmask]
>HSC 2J22                                        905-525-9140, ext. 22403
>                        School of Nursing
>============================================================================
>