Introduction

The world loses nearly one million people each year prematurely to suicide. ⁽¹⁾

Each suicide usually leaves behind six to ten survivors: parents, spouses, children, and other immediate family and friends who are directly affected by the death. That’s millions of people every year around the globe who grieve this particular kind of loss.

I am one of those grievers. I lost my father to suicide.

My father, Terry, was an engineer, with a PhD in electrical engineering. He was a brilliant man, designing satellite-imaging technology that could map things from outer space. But one November he experienced a stroke. While he survived, the stroke left him partly debilitated on the left side of his body. He started rehab and recovery, but one of the long-term effects of the stroke was that he wasn’t able to work, and he fell into a deep despair that spiraled into a clinical depression. He thought his medical bills were bankrupting the family (which wasn’t the case). He lost all sense of hope.

Three months after the stroke, he felt that he could no longer go on living. He went into his room, closed the door, and killed himself. He was 58 years old.

When my mother called me with the awful news, she wailed in grief and pain. I was in shock. Numb. It didn’t seem real. How could this have happened to our family? And how could we go on?

(1) https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/234219.php.