EMILEE G. WINN ADAPTS TO ANYTHING
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 16, 2012, 6:00 PM
WRITTEN BY BRITTANY BATTISTA
LEARN MORE ABOUT EMILEE W
Suicide is always an ugly aspect to consider, but EmiLee G. Winn survived it. Though, that’s not to say that she doesn’t still carry a few bad memories. With her parents divorced, she moved to Arizona with her mother, a friend, and said friend’s two kids. Unfortunately, being deaf took its toll on schoolwork. EmiLee was sent to an institution to help with her condition, but even though she was popular on campus she felt like a stranger among her family. She felt completely separate from her mother, even more so when her mother got remarried as she was sent away. EmiLee attempted to take her own life at the age of ten and was sent to therapy.
At fourteen, she decided it was time to reach out to her family again. Soon, she went back to public school. Sadly, later her mother was diagnosed with Colorectal Cancer. A month of treatments later and it was discovered that EmiLee’s husband of thirteen years cheated on her – they were promptly divorced. She tried to take her life again. Thankfully, it didn’t work.
May 11th, 2010, her baby brother succeeded where she had failed. It was then she realized the pain that her own death would cause to the family. The mother was still being treated for her cancer, but each day she would also drive to work, often on the same day as her treatments, and was awarded for her dedication. In June, it became terminal. EmiLee made one promise to her mother: that she wouldn’t miss her own appointment, to be rid of the precancerous cells in her body before she was diagnosed too.
Though she felt the need to be with her mother, she kept her promise … and one hour later she received word that her mother had passed away. She cherished those last few months. She saw her mother as a strong role model who would say that God was good to her instead of wallowing in self-pity. One of her last requests was that the death of EmiLee’s brother would be known to have been caused by an adverse reaction to his medication until she had died, so now the truth is out.
A year and a half later, EmiLee is coaching others on Facebook in a Suicide Survivors group, deciding that no one else should feel that kind of pain. She understands them and reaches out in ways that others couldn’t. After all that has happened to her, EmiLee is determined to make a change in the world as a Suicide Survivor.