Family of 6 Crisis - Help Needed

I want to start this Go Fund Me Page by saying Thank You! Thank you for taking the time to listen to what I am going through in my life. This is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. What I am about to explain is not easy. It is far from normal and I know that many may judge. However, at the end of the day it is a reality for me. It is my life and I have to actually live it. I have to move forward with it. I have to learn and grow from this. So again thank you! On Tuesday June 29th 2021 around 4:30am I experienced something that will forever change my life. I found my husband hanging in my garage, unconscious and barely hanging on to life as we know it.

First, I want to let everyone know that my husband Carl Purcell is alive. By the grace of God, I walked in the garage of my home with seconds to spare.

Second, he is alive because I chose to take all the right actions to save his life. One of the most traumatic experiences that will forever live deep in my soul.

I would now like to take the time to explain to everyone what happened leading up to my husband committing suicide.

My husband Carl has suffered from bipolar depression for as long as I have been married to him, which is almost 12 years now. This has been quite the battle for him and myself and our children. It has affected all of us and it has taken a toll on all of us as a family. Carl also suffers from a substance abuse addiction. He self medicates to take away his pain. For sometime now I have been pushing him to go to rehab. Until now, he has never followed through with going. This past Monday evening him and I got into an argument like we do often because of his addiction. He was upset with me because of feelings that he had and thoughts that were in his head about me. I was upset with him because he continued to use drugs to fill the void. That evening he kept telling me that he wanted to kill himself. I kept reminding him that his kids and I would miss him and that this is unfair to all of us to say these things. I kept asking him to go to bed, he however refused and insisted that we should get a divorce. I knew that this was the drugs talking, as he became more angry and says this often while using. As the night went on I kept trying to fall asleep but Carl kept texting very upsetting messages. Finally around 4am Tuesday, he continued to tell me that he was going to kill himself. There was a text message that for some reason got me off my feet and brought me to the garage. Had I not gotten up at that very moment, my husband would be dead right now. I opened the door just in time. When I opened the door he was already unconscious and hanging there lifeless. He had been hanging there for at least a couple minutes at this point. His feet were nowhere near the ground and he was hanging from the metal bar of the garage door opener with a toe strap around his neck. This was one of the most frightening things I have ever seen with my own eyes. I then panicked and tried to get him down. It wasn’t very long before I realized that I could not get him down myself as I tried many different ways. I even put a table underneath him but his legs were limp and there was no way that he could help me because he was unconscious. I then had to make the decision, do I go upstairs to get my phone to call 911 or do I go next-door to ask for help at 4:30 AM in the morning? I decided that 911 would not get there quick enough and my husband would be dead if I don’t find help right now. I then opened my garage door and I ran next-door screaming at the top of my lungs help help I need help. I started banging on my neighbors door and yelled for help.

My neighbor, his wife and their adult daughter all came out in a panic wondering what could possibly be wrong. I told them to follow me and that I need help. At first they were in a shock when they saw my husband unconscious hanging there and I told them that my husband is going to die if you don’t help me. Finally the man next-door realized that he had to help me. At that point him and I worked as a team to get my husband down as his wife called 911. We are so fortunate that we were able to get him down as soon as we did. My husband had seconds left. Once we got him down he had a seizure. He then started to gasp for air in a way that I have never seen anybody do in their life. At this point the paramedics showed up and the cops. They took my husband away and I had no idea at this time if he was going to make it, he was barely hanging on and still seizing uncontrollably as they wheeled him away. It was one of the most horrible things I have ever had to watch. Unfortunately, during all of this my son who is 10 years old had come outside and had to see some of this take place. This will forever scare myself, my son, my neighbors and Carl, my husband. Carl is now at Lutheran General Hospital where he is on suicide watch. He is not allowed to leave the hospital. He is being held there against his will. He is so fortunate that he can talk and that he is not brain dead. It is a miracle! If I didn’t find him when I did and if I didn’t take the actions that I took, he would be dead right now. I saved his life. This will traumatize and affect myself and my family for the rest of our lives. Carl has agreed as of today, Friday July 2nd 2021, to be admitted to inpatient rehab once the hospital is ready to discharge him. So he will go straight from Lutheran General Hospital to an inpatient rehab facility where he will go through intensive care to help with his addiction that led him to suicide. He will not be back home for at least 5-7 weeks at the very minimum, however, we are anticipating longer. With that being said myself and my 4 children are left here to survive. We have to go on, we have to continue life without him until he gets better. We are so lucky that he is not gone, however, he still has a long road ahead of him. And unfortunately I’m just not sure how we can completely afford everything without him. I have never been in a situation like this before in my life and I have never made a go fund me page like this before in my life. This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. Today I talked to some specialists and everyone agrees that I need to reach out for help. I need to try all of my resources and seek help because my family and I are going through something that we never anticipated going through and we must go on. I am making this go fund me page to ask if anybody can help in anyway possible. It would be so greatly appreciated for me and my children to be able to keep a roof over our heads and continue to pay all the necessary bills. With out Carl we can not do this. I pray that Carl can find the strength to follow through with the help that is given to him because he was given a second chance at life and I hope that he takes it seriously. Meanwhile, my four children and I will have to go on with life, there are still bills to pay! Thank you for taking the time to read this and please feel free to reach out to me personally. God Bless!