On October 4, 2010, my daughter Kristen ended her life with a firearm, two months shy of her 29th birthday. She shot herself in her bathroom late one night, with her boyfriend’s gun, while he worked a night shift and her children slept. Her 5-year-old son found her body.
Kristen struggled for years with major depression following a childhood of abuse and neglect by her birth family. She sought help many times, taking prescribed antidepressant medications, but also abusing alcohol (and perhaps opiates supplied by the boyfriend)… all attempts to reduce and mitigate her endless pain.
She left behind three beautiful children, three sisters and me, her other mom. We are forever changed by the loss of this beautiful, funny, loving woman.