Ayrshire sons speaks of mum's suicide attempts

Dec 18 2009 by Lisa Boyle, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

MY MUM tried to commit suicide last Christmas Eve.

It was after a stint of depression which started when my parents got divorced.

She seemed to be doing really good. All my brothers are out the house but we all kept in contact and she seemed to be doing good.

I was just about to head to Africa to do a mission trip but on Christmas Eve my brother phoned to say he’d found my mum in the kitchen and that I had to come home.

Immediately I felt panic and I felt physically sick.

Then I developed psoriasis with the stress of it all.

So last Christmas was spent in the hospital with my mum.

At that point she wasn’t talking much, it was just us sitting with her trying to comfort her and giving her gifts that she wasn’t really bothered about.

The warning signs were that she was less talkative. She’s a bit of an extrovert but whenever we tried to talk to her about the family she didn’t seem to bother.

Her relationship with my nieces and nephews changed. She loved the kids but whenever they were around her she got quite aggressive and didn’t seem to have time for them.

A year down the line, things are a lot better.

She spent three months in hospital. She was given medication and completely shifted overnight.

Had she been successful it would have deeply impacted the family.

My mum, like a lot of mums, is the person who holds the family together.

To anyone contemplating the same thing I would say there is always hope.

A lot of people think they are doing their family a favour but they are not. It’s something the family will always need to live with.