posted 08-26-2007 10:01 PM            

---

Early this morning a very troubled friend called to say he was planning to commit suicide. Because he was talking in the past tense about everything I took him seriously and called EMS to help him. He had in fact (as he threatened to do) taken sleeping pills with a great amount of alcohol. He's in the hospital now and just regained consciousness early this evening but what hope is there for someone who has absolutely no support system? His family is just a big a mess as he is and from what I can tell I am his only friend who doesn't drink or use drugs. How can I help him? His mother, who lives less than 1 block from the hospital he is in, didn't even come up to check on him today. He has so much good in him but is so tormented by his past and the current people in his life that I wonder how, or even if, he will make it.

Do any of you have any experience with this type of situation? My friends keep telling me to turn my back and walk away but how can I do that in good conscience? I could never have lived with myself knowing that he could have died last night simply because I didn't feel like getting out of bed to answer the phone.

All times are CT