More than two dozen people die from suicide every year in Waterloo Region.
Family members are often surprised to learn of the deaths, wishing they had known the full extent of the problems being experienced by their love one so they could have helped them.
That was certainly the experience of Shawna Percy-MacDonald, whose husband Neal took his own life in 2011.
“One of the things that he was so good at was being who he needed to be on the outside so you would never know that his entire world was falling apart on the inside,” Percy-MacDonald tells CTV.
Percy-MacDonald knew her husband had his struggles. He had overcome a drug addiction and was battling with mental illness.
But there were also happier times, like when the two of them travelled the world together, helping those in need.
“Even though, like every other couple, we didn’t agree on everything, the one place we always worked so well together was when it came to reaching out to other people,” says Percy-MacDonald.
That’s why she was shocked when she first received a phone call telling her he had attempted to kill himself.
Neil survived that attempt, but his mental health began to deteriorate. He turned to alcohol, shut himself off from family and friends, and ultimately made another attempt on his life, this one successful.
“He didn’t call me back, and I knew something was wrong when I didn't hear from him,” recalls Percy-MacDonald.
Moving past the death of her husband was not easy for Percy-MacDonald, but she’s found that sharing her story and telling others about life after the suicide of a loved one have helped give her focus.
“Something I would want people to know is that there is hope and there is a better quality of life,” she says.
Blogging and public speaking are what led Percy-MacDonald to that better quality of life, but she says everyone must find their own way to move past the sudden death of a loved one.
