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Jul 3, 2017
10:24:20am
JohnnyComeLately Amateur hour
I had quite the interesting experience last night.
Yesterday evening I logged onto Facebook, I hadn't been on for at least a day and noticed a post from a guy I played hockey with. It seemed very depressed and so I clicked on his profile and started noticing several posts in the last 15 hours that all lead me to believe he seriously was planning on committing suicide.

I don't know the guy very well, we never hung out just played a season of hockey on the same team. But I felt like I needed to do something. To confirm my thoughts I posted to my FO asking what I should do. The response came back to reach out and contact people who can help since I am currently on vacation and not in the immediate area.

So I send him a couple messages and message our mutual friends about him. I also screen shot the posts with the suicidal language and sent it over to my brother in law who is a police officer in my town. He texted back and forth with me and utilizing some tech they have they were able to pinpoint his location. Well later in the evening my friend posts that he is ok and thanks for all the concern and help. I thought that was the end of the story.

This morning though my brother in law contacted me. He told me what happened after we last talked. Apparently my friend was in another police jurisdiction so he passed it on to his friends who actually took it seriously and decided to investigate.

The police used their tech to find where he was and when they knocked on the door there was no response so they went in.

There they found my friend passed out. He had mixed alcohol with off the street "oxy 80's" a counterfeit pain killer narcotic laced with fentanyl. The police were able to get him to the hospital, administered the counter drug and revived him. He was given a psych evaluation and was released to family.

My brother in law was insistent that had we all not responded the way we did he would probably have killed himself last night. Depression is not just someone being sad, it is a horrible mental condition that can lead to death. My buddy has two little girls, and had his plan worked he would have left them without a father.
These things are hard to fathom at times but I'm sure glad I followed my instincts to be a friend when it was needed the most.
JohnnyComeLately
Previous username
BigReedThunder
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JohnnyComeLately
Joined
Mar 23, 2015
Last login
Mar 29, 2024
Total posts
80,490 (60,168 FO)
Related Threads Children:
Today I talked to my friend who almost committed suicide. (JohnnyComeLately, Jul 10, 2017 at 12:43pm)
Here's a video on how to help a suicidal friend. (soupie, Jul 4, 2017 at 12:09am)
How do you deal with depression for you or loved ones? Do you encourage medical intervention, therapy, both? Do you (SouthernBlueBlood, Jul 3, 2017 at 11:03am)

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