On Tuesday, January 24, 2017, we lost our dear daughter-in-law Christine Petrich to a tragic incident. She drove to Academy, bought a gun, and killed herself in the parking lot. No one knows why. On the surface, everything was great. She looked fantastic, she had just gotten her hair done, the family had just planned a surprise trip to Lego Land and Disney for the children and her new treadmill had just been delivered to complete her home gym. On the outside, her life was amazing.
No one knows what was going on inside her head. We know she suffered from body image issues. We know she suffered from feelings of self-doubt and feeling inadequate in all things. But we felt like she was managing these issues. She was a psychiatrist, she had it under control.
Unless you suffer with depression, wrestle your own mental demons, I guess you don’t really understand the deep anguish it takes to put a gun to you head and take your own life. Because that one shot will make all the pain go away, will quiet all the voices in your head, and for once, you don’t have to worry about the bills, or how many calories something has in it, or how clean your house is, or I am so tired and I just can’t sleep…. Why can’t I sleep?
Christine was the provider for her family. She worked as a psychiatrist and made good money. Her husband stayed home and took care of the family and is going to school full time to complete his Master’s Degree in Computer Engineering. This is his last semester before he graduates.
We are asking you to help pay for her funeral expenses as life insurance doesn’t cover suicide. She left behind a 4 and 7 year old.