Off-duty paramedic saves mother of two from attempted suicide
This story is about suicide. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
A young woman was found walking off the ledge of a bridge as she contemplated taking her own life.
Lauren Elizabeth, a 23-year-old mother of two from Canterbury, England, told SWNS that she struggled with her mental health leading up to the event.
After finishing a cigarette, Elizabeth stood on the roof of an overpass in the city where she and her two children live – and was about to jump when an off-duty paramedic spotted her.
“She pulled over and I cried,” she told SWNS of the woman who pulled her car to the side.
“She said, ‘Are you OK?’ and I said, ‘I’m fine, leave me alone.'”
Elizabeth went on to explain that the off-duty paramedic said she was “going around the corner” – and the rest was unclear to her.
Elizabeth said police showed up and put her in the back seat of an officer’s car.
“I broke down and told them everything,” she said.
According to SWNS, the mother-of-two was taken to William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, England, before being taken to a signage unit where she was further assessed.
Elizabeth, who lives in Ashford, England, with her two children, aged 6 and 4, said she owed the paramedic “everything”.
“Without the paramedic who stopped that night, I wouldn’t have gotten the help I needed and I wouldn’t have been able to see my children grow up,” she told SWNS.
Elizabeth was able to speak to the paramedic to express her appreciation. She said if the woman hadn’t shown up and taken the time to talk to her, she wouldn’t be here today.
“There was very little that changed my mind – it was more the fact that someone was there,” she said.
Elizabeth said she was feeling much better now.
She hopes others will stop and think the next time they see something similar.
“It can be really helpful to know that people care,” she said.
She also said, “Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.”
