OFF-DUTY NURSE SAVED NEW MUM
Sue hopes her story will help others struggling with their mental health
ANEW mother suffering from mental health problems following the birth of her daughter was saved from attempting to take her life by an off-duty mental health nurse.
Sue Rogers gave birth to daughter Jessica in March last year, but soon became consumed by feelings of hopelessness, leading the 37-year-old to make her way to a bridge above the A55.
Fearing she would never get better, Sue was intending to harm herself, when she encountered Joe Lewis, who she had come to know as a patient on Glan Clwyd Hospital’s Ablett Unit.
Making his way through a police cordon, he persuaded Sue to back away from her suicidal thoughts.
Sue, from Henllan near Denbigh, has shared her story for World Mental Health Day, this Wednesday, to give hope to other new mums who may be struggling with their mental health.
She said: “I didn’t feel I wanted to live any more. I wanted to shut my eyes and for it all to go away.
“While I was on the Ablett Unit I was treated by Joe. I felt at ease with him and he’d always be there if I needed him.
“When he approached me on the bridge, he just gave me that vital bit of hope that I could get better.
“My advice to anybody who is struggling is ‘ never give up and keep trying everything’. There is hope.” Sue ’s experience of developing mental health problems following the birth of a child is estimated to affect 20% of n ew mothers.
“I was the least suicidal person you could meet and I’d never had any problems with mental health before. But after Jessica was born I was crying a lot and deep down I knew there was something really wrong. It got to the point where I got so scared because I thought I was never going to get better.”
Sue spent three months on Glan Clwyd Hospital’s Ablett psychiatric unit, where doctors believed she had developed post-partum psychosis, a severe episode of mental illness which affects one in every 1,000 new mums.
Since being discharged in the autumn of 2017, she has been supported by the Tim Dyffryn Clwyd community mental health team, and has experienced a dramatic improvement in her mental health.
She is now concentrating on making up for lost time with Jessica, who is 18 months old.
“Sometimes I feel guilty that I missed out on so many months with her when she was little. But I’m trying to make up that time now.
“My employer at the time, Gamlins Solicitors, were so supportive and they kept my job open for me, which was one less thing to worry about.
“And I couldn’t have got through it all without my mum, who was amazing with me and Jessica.”
Nurse Joe Lewis was shortlisted for a Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board Achievement Award for his life-saving intervention.
But he said her recovery is reward enough.
He added: “It’s so lovely to see that Sue is now living a normal life and coming out of the other side of being in a very bad place.
“To see her thriving now is the most important thing to me and knowing that as nurses we can make such a differ
ence to people’s lives.”