I normally don't ask for help; I'm content handling problems on my own. Therefore, this is really hard to do. My husband of 20 years, Jesse Overgaard, decided to take his own life on April 27th. He left behind his wife, Stephanie, and his two sons, Vincent and Miles.

He struggled with his mental health for his whole life. Childhood trauma permeated his whole existence. His experiences and lack of help left lasting scars. He lived with an inguinal hernia for over 20 years, since childhood, because his parents never cared enough to seek medical care. They did know about it. Their solution was he just couldn't play sports anymore and problem solved. This upbringing led to severe anxiety, a low opinion of himself, and manic episodes.

It was exhausting. We tried talking to numerous doctors and health care professionals. They provided no solutions, just pills prescribed at ridiculously high doses, and if those didn't work, they'd go down the list and prescribe a new one. Nothing helped. The hernia fix left him with chronic pain, and the medical solution to that was a new pill. An antidepressant or anxiety medication they thought would help, but never did.

This was all compounded by a platelet disorder he developed called immune thrombocytopenia, or ITP. Currently, it was in remission, but the last couple of years we had to be on what we called "spot watch," looking for petechiae developing across his body. His immune system would randomly decide that his blood platelets were the problem and would try to eliminate them all. It led to daily blood draws, hospitalizations, and long infusion procedures.

I'm not making any excuses for why he did what he did. Honestly, I'm just trying to take it one day at a time. I loved him so much, despite his flaws, and to have it end like this is devastating. Everyone I talk to has the same responses though, "I don't know what to say and let me know if you need anything." Well, this is how you can help to get our lives back on track. Any help would be appreciated.

Take care of your loved ones. You never know how long you have with them.