KIND STRANGER SAVED MY LIFE
SELFLESS WOMAN TALKED MAN DOWN FROM THE HUMBER BRIDGE
A HESSLE man who walked to the Humber Bridge to take his own life launched a search to find the cycling stranger who talked him down from the edge.
Jay Tointon, 21, said he wants to thank the woman, who appeared on her bicycle “out of nowhere”, for saving his life, just after 9pm on Saturday, July 4.
“I owe her everything,” he said. Jay, who was working as a selfemployed car valet before the coronavirus lockdown, said he had been feeling like “everything was pointless” recently, especially since losing his dad less than two years ago.
After returning home from going out for a few beers with his friends on Saturday night, he said he had hit a particularly low point and decided that he wanted to end his life.
“I had got in bed and just thought, ‘I’m sick of feeling like this’ and I’d rather just end it now and it be over,” he said.
“So I went to the Humber Bridge and there was literally no one about, I could see the full length of the bridge.
“After about ten seconds I thought I’d just do it, then this woman approached me out of nowhere and said ‘hey’ and stopped me, started telling me how her dad had committed suicide and about all the things I had to live for.”
The woman stayed with Jay until police arrived and offered to walk him home, saying that she also lived in Hessle.
But Jay went with the police and specialist mental health officers who told him the relevant services would be in touch before escorting him home.
Now Jay has said he is feeling better after that low point over the weekend and added that he is determined to get mental health support with his doctor and Andy’s Man Club, when meetings there resume. He was determined to find the woman who helped him to thank her for saving his life, posting a status on Facebook about the incident that was shared far and wide.
“I had given her my number, but I didn’t hear from her and I couldn’t remember her name,” he said.
“My friends said maybe she just didn’t know what to say, but I would love even just to speak to her on Facebook to thank her.
“She was in her late 30s, early 40s, and she was biking along with this Strava app because I remember she joked with me that it had ruined her Strava time.
“My post has had so many shares, but I just couldn’t seem to find her.”
Jay was finally put in touch with the woman on Tuesday evening and he said he was “buzzing”.
They now plan to meet on
Thursday, he said.
“I just want to thank her for saving my life, give her some flowers or something.
“I owe her everything,” he added.
I just want to thank her for saving my life, give her some flowers or something. I owe her everything
Jay Tointon
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