Suicide shock at fabulous beach location

I was walking on the beach on Guernsey's fabulous east coast early in the morning, just as the sun was rising over the nearby islands of Herm and Jethou. It was a stunning scene of peace and beauty but I was in for a shock. The bundle of clothing that moved lazily in the shallows as the waves lapped the shore, began to take form as I approached it. I drew my breath in fear and apprehension. It was a body. A beautiful young woman had taken her own life there on the beach. As I waited tearfully for a policeman to arrive on his motorcycle, I prayed for a family about to be torn apart by grief and remorse. Much later I discovered that she was a wealthy heiress, but had been overcome by what turned out to be a terminal mental illness.

This was forty years ago, and I was just starting out on my ministry in the island, but I learned a terrible lesson that day. Living with plenty and prosperity is no insurance policy against loneliness, depression or despair. I believe that Guernsey's suicide rate is still, pro-rata, one of the highest in Europe, in spite of its great beauty and close community. The World Health Organisation has designated today, the 10th September, as suicide prevention day. They claim that nearly three times as many men as women die by suicide in high-income countries, in contrast to low- and middle-income countries, where the rate is more equal. Globally, one person commits suicide every 40 seconds.

I was motivated by that incident, very early in ministry, to take seriously the issue of suicide prevention. I try to listen carefully for the evidence of the potential for self-harm when people speak with me. During my 22 years of heavy opiate use for intense chronic pain, I was occasionally tested by thoughts that my loved ones would be better off without me (and that I could be with God). Those were lies from the enemy of my soul and my family. If I had short-circuited my life in that way I would have missed the amazing research developments in surgery, for instance, that changed my life in 2017. But much more than that, I would have torn a hole in my family and community that could never have been filled.

Please be aware of this problem, and if you are affected by thoughts like the ones I mention above, do talk to someone you trust about it. If you want to contact me, please do. You can search for me by name on Facebook, or use this email: ericgaudion@me.com which I have set up specifically for this purpose. The Samaritans are also always only a phone-call away (116 123 free from any phone).

You really do matter to God, and he does have a plan for your life down here. When his time comes he will call you home, but till then, take advantage of every offer of help and love that might keep you from falling into the trap of believing those lies.

Suicide Capital of Britain?

Is Guernsey set to become the suicide capital of Great Britain? This headline in the UK newspaper the Daily Express, copied by others, has thrown a forthcoming debate in the island's government into the national limelight. In May the States of Guernsey will be asked by its leading minister plus six others, to decide whether Guernsey is in favour of 'assisted dying' for the terminally ill. If they prevail, and there are signs that they may, the island will set up a consultation to find ways and means to implement this momentous step, and may well lead the way in doing so within the British Isles.

One island politician, Deputy Emilie Yerby, in a blog on the issue, said "This is a very personal, emotionally fraught debate. Whatever side of the argument we are on, we need to approach it with compassion, mutual respect and honesty. People will bare their souls and confront some of their deepest fears over the coming weeks. We owe it to our community to create the kind of environment where they feel safe to do so."

Maybe not quite baring my soul, but I want to share my own perspective on this emotive issue. I do so not just as a Christian or church leader, but as a sufferer. In all my 22 years of the most appalling pain requiring around 100 admissions to hospital and over 30 surgeries I have always felt that the medics were on my side. I have often been embarrassed to be causing them so much work, and felt like a real nuisance, but they have always reassured me that they were with me in wanting to overcome this dreadful disease and keep me alive, even when that seemed so unlikely. I really do feel that my relationship with those doctors and nurses would have been changed for the worse if they were asked to become 'killers'.

Also, during the two decades I spent battling this most painful and deadly disease, if I had chosen to take a short-cut, I would have missed the amazing space-age transplant surgery that transformed my life nine months ago in Newcastle. Even now, the NHS in England is only proposing to start clinical trials into this surgery which is still not available anywhere in Europe. Medical research is constantly advancing, and short-cuts would have denied me this opportunity, even if I had wanted to take one.

I feel the utmost sadness and compassion for folk who are suffering appalling pain and life-limiting conditions. I also understand that carers and loved ones must feel desperate in the face of such circumstances and might feel that they would not even treat an animal the way their loved ones might be suffering. But we are not merely animals - we are body mind and spirit - and our lives are precious even when we might feel that all earthly hope is gone.

Please don't let us get agitated and heated over this, as Deputy Yerby advises us, but if you live in Guernsey do please engage with our States' deputies and help them to grapple with what is surely one of the toughest decisions they will have to make for a long while. And if Guernsey is a long way away from you, don't forget the words of the poet John Donne:

No man is an island entire of itself;... any man's death diminishes me, 

because I am involved in mankind. 

And therefore never send to know for whom 

the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.