My Husband's Suicide

The death of a loved one is an event that all of us is likely to experience during our lifetimes, often on numerous occasions. For many human beings, the subject of death could be creepy, undeniable, frightening and something too dark to face. The reality is that when a human being is born death is also born. Since we left the womb of our mother 's, death is part of our journey through life and becomes a shadow forever. While such loss often transforms lives, it does not necessarily need to be for the worse in the long term. However, grieving it can be the most difficult aspect of life, also everyone grieving process is different, and the loss of a loved one can happen in a moment but it can last a lifetime. Many writers like Mary Rowlandson on her narrative of the captivity and restoration, Katharine Sedgwick’s on “Hope Leslie”, Edgar A. Poe’s on “Fall of the House of Usher” and Harriet Jacob’s on “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” have written about the loss of a loved one to death and how to carry on with their own lives. Dealing effectively and positively with grief caused by such a loss is central to your recovery process and your ability to continue with and fulfill your life for the better.

Continually, my father would come home from work weaker and disable sometimes he could barely stand up. He started getting blurry purple spots on him and that's when I figured something wasn't the same about my father. He used to always carry himself with energy and laughter but, now he couldn’t get out of bed. We took him to the hospital and they told us he had stage 2 cancer. This experience has not only changed me as a person but changed the way I had to live for a while. When my father had to be on around the clock care at the hospital me and my older sister had to help out around the house. While most 4th graders were outside playing with their friends, I was inside everyday helping my mom cook, clean, and feed the dogs. I had to step up a lot and do more thing that i'm not used to because my dad wasn't around to help us out. We would go up to the hospital about every other night and stay up there and spend the night watching over my dad at night. My dad’s cancer taught me that life is too short to be wasting my time on the little things that aren't even important! I’ve realized l I need to make every minute and every moment

When my dad came home that evening he sat me down and asked me if I knew what cancer was. I had an idea so I just nodded my head, he went on to tried to explain to me how bad the cancer was that my mom had been diagnosed with. Seeing my dad so afraid scared me. The fear I felt then led me to realize that I needed to try and hide it because it would only hurt my dad more to see his children so upset. I did my best to help, I tucked my little sisters into bed while my mom was away at the hospital, read them stories and did the best I could at preparing snacks to comfort them. After my mom arrived home and she recovered from the surgery she started chemotherapy. The miserable treatment that attacks the cancer also makes her very ill. Every other week she was sick. Before every bad week I wanted to cry, but that wouldn’t help anyone. Lane and Kenna already were crying, if I cried it could only hurt my parents

When I was a child, I dreamt about being a doctor helping others. I knew at the early age of 7 that I wanted to make a difference in others’ lives. After the death of my mother in 1999, I slowly changed my mind about what I wanted to do with my life. I told myself that I would do whatever it took to help bring justice for families that go through what I went through with the death of my mother. As I was going through college I realized that criminal justice wasn’t for me after working in the field. I sat there one day wondering what I would do next and I realized I have a passion for helping others; and I love babies, so why not use that to my advantage. That is how I ended up here at Southern Careers Institute pursuing a career in the

The loss of a loved one is one of the most difficult experiences to endure in a human lifetime. The grieving process often encompasses the survivors’ entire world and affects their emotional, cognitive, spiritual, and physical selves in unexpected ways. After a major loss, such as the death of a spouse or child, up to a third of the people most directly affected will suffer detrimental effects on their physical and/or mental health (Jacobs 1993).

I went from a single father to a wholesome family who actually ate dinner together and liked to hug and talk about their feelings. My world shifted upside down. This realization opened my eyes, and my heart. My father dying taught me to understand that many people with a hard outer shell are most likely being held back on the inside by something that has affected them. His death taught me to appreciate everyone and show kindness because that is what was shown to me during my time of need. My youthful family who adopted me, did not expect for me to feel like a part of a family or call them my parents. They got me counseling and showed me the affection that I needed to cope. Without these generous deeds, I would have crumbled. I believe whole heartedly that showing appreciation for those who also walk on this earth, like my parents did for me,will help anyone get through a rough day with a

One event that has changed my life forever and the way I look at things now is when my father was admitted to Greenville Memorial Hospital the day after Christmas last year in 2015. I was not notified that my dad had been admitted until the second day he was there. I clearly remember sitting at McDonald's with my then boyfriend on a date celebrating our one month. The fries I was eating were so delicious until I got the call my dad had been in a bad accident due to alcohol and had been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at Greenville Memorial Hospital. I asked the caller, my dad’s friend Nancy, if she was sure it was him. She replied, “Yes, I would not play around with something like this.” My boyfriend and I left our food and immediately left

The mission trip to New Orleans. I had let Jesus into my heart but I started to get this desire and passion to want to start following him, but I didn't know what that looked like or what that meant or how to do it. And so I prayed and longed for him to show me that. As we headed down to New Orleans, the back of my van started to get into really good conversations about life and each other and Katie Thul asked the question that forever has changed my life. “What has been the hardest part of your life so far?”. This might not seem like to bad of a question, but the fact of the matter was that I had never told anybody about the dark and gritty parts of my life before. I had always bottled it up, to scared to tell anyone because I feared what people thought of me, to afraid they’d turn away. And as people went around sharing, it came my time to share and I knew I couldn't do it, so I said I didn't want to share, and as they went around deep inside me I was being told I needed to. I needed to let it out and just speak. And so they came back to me and I let them in, I told them about what I had gone through and as I was in tears I looked up and saw this kid looking back at me from the front of the van. He wasn't apart of the conversation we were having but you knew he was listening in and as our eyes met, he was in tears. I then realized that this was Anna’s brother. This was the kid. That week I embraced my past and used it to help and grow and evangelize this kid, Jackson. I knew what to say because I was in the exact spot he was in just a year earlier. The Lord showed me that I can make a difference in people's lives through him. God opened my eyes to the people I had around me. He put Sydney into my life, someone who on this trip poured a tremendous amount of wisdom, truth, and love into me and essentially pushed me to love and follow Jesus recklessly and at all costs. So many people, from Ally to Zach, to

If there’s one event that has made a huge impact in my life it would have to be a roll over car accident that my parents, aunt, and I were when I was in sixth grade. This car accident has impacted me negatively by leaving me with PTSD and positively by figuring out what career I am pursuing.

In spring of 2002, my father-n-law had a stroke. At the time, we were not sure if he would survive the incident, however, in hindsight, it may have been better that he did not, but he did and the aftermath was a hard consequence.

My mom was spending lots of her time over at a friends house in 2013, because one of her best friends Jenyi, was diagnosed with cancer. This was tough for me. Not being able to see my mom as much and knowing that Jenyi was struggling. This helped me grow spiritually and emotionally. I learned to put my trust in God, and as a family we spent many nights in prayer, hoping God would heal her. He didn’t. Instead, he chose to take her home to heaven. We didn’t understand, we had lots of grief and pain. I miss Jenyi, but I learned that everything was going to be okay. That good things came from bad, and that God can use these things to change people. After Jenyi died, we had to continue life, so we did. Not much later, in Des Moines for Labor day, we went boating with my mom's side of the family.

My aunt, who was the kindest person I have ever known, passed away when I was ten years old. Before she passed away, she was bedridden for long time. Because of the illness she had, she suffered severely for a couple of years. During that time, doctors told her that she had a breast cancer. She fought for two years till the time she gave up. While she dies, I was in a hospital at her bedside till she gasps her last breath. What a traumatic experience for a young boy to witness my aunties death. The firsthand experience I had, motivated me to train and be a health professional and help patients to recover.

Through all of the challenging things that took place while my father was fighting cancer, I learned many valuable lessons. My parents decided that my father would undergo chemotherapy and radiation at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Newnan, Georgia. Normally, they would be gone for about two weeks at a time, but there were a couple occasions that my parents were forced to stay there for months due to major surgeries. Home alone in Florida, my brother and I had very different schedules. So, I was alone most of the time. I was only a sophomore in high school, and I found myself having to do pretty much everything on my own. Even though it was onerous, this time in my life is very meaningful to me. It taught me that I will not always have someone to rely on. Even if it was a little earlier than normal, I am thankful that I was forced to become as independent as I am today. I value this chapter in my life, because I believe that being strong and independent is very critical to being able to survive in the world we live in

One day, on a crisp summer evening, my two brothers had visited from sebring.My mother had told us to sit down on the couch and thats what we did. I knew something was wrong when my brothers looked at me worriedly...Logan started crying and I got really worried, then my mom began with the words “Olivia, I know you don't want to hear this but, i’m diagnosed with cancer”....she explained how she was diagnosed with it, she had a lot of tumors and a lump in her throat, I didn't believe this, my life had changed forever at that moment, I thought to myself, how was i going to cope with this? The change would be hard but maybe it will bring something good hopefully

An accident last year changed my attitude towards life . That accident had a great impact on me , it taught me to treasure what i have and to treasure those people around me more . Although the accident was not life threatening , it was still the scariest thing i had ever been through in life . It was an accident that no one would have expected and wanted it to happen .