Sweet Charity

This is a picture of my daughters. Christy is my oldest child. The tiny girl in pink is my daughter Elizabeth. We call her Betty. She is the youngest of my four children. She is as sweet at 17 years old as she was back then. She is the child I gave birth to in the midst of my medical breakdown. Betty was the reason I was able to pull through. In my upcoming book, Advancing Backwards, I talk about my stint in the Intensive Care Unit, and how my will to live was waning. The nurses brought in pictures of Betty and taped them to my IV pole. She was born three pounds, eleven ounces. I was hooked up to a ventilator, unable to breathe on my own, and my mind, though not totally gone, was not able to retain new information. Seeing pictures of her fight her own battle in the NICU helped me to find a reason to fight for my life.

I want to fast forward to the year 2007 when my precious Betty was 15 years old. She was in high school, running track, cross country and living large as a healthy teenager, or so we thought. The incident I will touch on here is titled "Fifteen Seconds Changes Your Life" in my book. The reason for that title comes from the lecture I give my kids about decision making. I have preached over and over to them about how it only takes 15 seconds to alter your life forever. The idea was to impress upon them how a blink of an eye is all that is required for the very best opportunities to be taken full advantage of and the most horrifying tragedies can happen due to a 15 second decision.
Betty seemed to have energy to burn. I was exhausted watching her run for sports, run around the house and run her life. I was envious of the amount of endless bouncing around she did. I thought she was lucky to be able to do so much in a single day.
One day she came home and did her usual routine of going to her room and playing her stereo, while she did homework. The events that came after that are described in great detail in the book. The reason I can't do it now is not to tease, but rather self preserve. I cried the entire time I wrote that chapter. I shook like a leaf, blinded to the key board of the computer, praying that I was hitting keys that spelled out the episode the first time because I didn't think I had the strength to try and write it again.
Betty tried to commit suicide that day. I found her hanging by an electrical cord tied to her closet door.
We happened to have a family therapist, due to unruly bad boy behavior of my sons. He got us help. Betty was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder. She wasn't overly energetic-she was manic.
What goes up, must indeed come down. Bipolar disorder causes the down to be reminiscent of Hell, itself.
Betty has the doctors she needs to battle her disease. She must fight for herself and monitor her feelings. She is doing great now. I compare bipolar disorder with diabetes. Both are real physical problems that have to be managed.
I researched teen suicide while I was writing the chapter about Betty's attempt. I see in my own kids and their friends how fragile teenagers are and how easy it is to be hopeless. I have worked at trying to reach as many kids as I come in contact with and let them know they are not alone.
Siucide in children and teens has gone up exponentially since the 1970's when I was a child. It is the second leading cause of death in college kids. It is the third leading cause of death in children. I was positively gobsmacked when I read the number of kids effected by this. This is an urgent problem I feel very strongly about.

I wanted to extend my reach as far as I could. I feel like there is so much more than can be done to help our kids. I decided on trying to find a charity that I could donate 10% of the proceeds of my book to in order to expand my territory.
The preface of the book tells the story about how I found the charity. I am a Thursday's child. If you know the nursery rhyme you will know what that means. I have far to go. By divine intervention I found the charity www.thursdayschild.org that helps children and teens with just about every problem you can think of. For me, my connection was they help kids who are suicidal. BINGO! I knew then it was a sign. I wrote a lengthy email to a contact listed on the website. I do mean lengthy. I wanted to assure whoever received my email, that I was sincere in my endeavor to give back to them and extend my reach to kids all over the country and Canada.
I went on and on telling Betty's story and how I wanted to help if I could. I wanted to impress upon them how honored I would be to do this and I was concerned they would think I was some kind of a nut.
I sent the letter and waited for a response. The book was in the editing phase and I was hoping to include a preface talking about the charity. The clock was ticking and I hadn't heard anything back and the book was just about ready to be sent back to me. I began to doubt the sign I was so sure I had witnessed.
One day while checking my email I saw the response from the contact at Thursday's Child. Here's what it said: "Sorry to take so long to get back to you. That would be very nice. Thank you."
I had written an epic novelette to them and they kept things very short and sweet. I laughed at my groveling dog and pony show. It was funny then and I think it's funny now.
I am a firm believer in charities. I try to give whatever I can to assure others that we are in this together. I want people to know I see them. I can't tell you how grateful I am to have the opportunity to give to Thursday's Child.

I am not one to self promote without feeling a little creepy about it. I am neurotic, nervous and insecure. I am woman hear me, not so much roar as, ask politely while staring at the floor... So what I can't always do for me, I can do passionately for others.
Please buy my book, Advancing Backwards, when it comes out and help Thursday's Child, or find them on the web directly at www.thursdayschild.org. Send whatever you can. They are the only 24 hour hot line available to kids and teens here in the U.S. and Canada. They work to bring our children out of the dark.

Soon I will be starting a new blog that will be updated every Friday containing original bedtime stories for young children and the young at heart. Another book in the making? Let's hope, so I can have another way to donate.