Content warning: This post discusses suicide and will be distressing for many readers.
A radio presenter in the United Kingdom has saved a man’s life after receiving a distressing call from a man live on the radio show.
Iain Lee was hosting the Late Night Alternative program early this week when he received a call from a man who said his name was Chris.
On the phone to Iain, on live radio, Chris revealed that after suffering from PTSD for years, he had attempted to take his own life and was dying in the street, drifting in and out of consciousness.
The radio presenter kept the man on the phone, while his producer contacted emergency services.
For half an hour, the phone call continued on air.
“Tell you what, Chris — I don’t want you to die tonight. I need to know what street you’re on,” Lee said to the man during the call.
“I want you to get through tonight and chat to me tomorrow,” he added.
The radio presenter went on to say he didn’t want the man to die, because he loved him.
“I don’t want you to die tonight because I love you. I love you, brother. I love you,” he said.
“Someone’s going to come and help you,” he added.
Iain was later contacted by authorities to let him know that they had found the man, and managed to retrieve him. He broke down in tears.
According to The Sun, police found the man on the back of the information provided by the radio station.
He was taken to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, and spent the night receiving treatment.
Following the on air experience, Iain Lee opened up about the experience on Twitter.
“We managed to keep him online, get a description of what he looked like and was wearing, work out where he was and send an ambulance and police to him. Kept him on the phone, for 30 minutes while he got harder to understand,” he wrote in the tweet.
He expressed anguish about the whether or not the man would live.
“Long periods of silence where I thought he’d died. fuck, that was intense and upsetting. Thanks for your kind words. I really hope he makes it. ” he wrote in the tweet.
Followers of the radio presenters who were listening to the segment were deeply concerned, reiterating that they hoped Iain Lee had support for himself.
If you think you may be experiencing depression or another mental health problem, please contact your general practitioner or in Australia, contact Lifeline 13 11 14 for support or beyondblue 1300 22 4636. If you are concerned about the welfare of yourself or a friend, immediately contact 000. Help is available.
Top Comments
This gives hope ! There is humanity still in this world 💗💗
You tell me that you’re hopeless,
You want your life less than your death,
But if you jumped into a pool right now,
I know you’d hold your breath,
So I know that it’s not hopeless,
But that your hope’s just hard to find,
And if I showed you all you can become,
I know you’d change your mind,
You might have hit rock bottom,
But it’s a place to start,
Where the only thing that you can hear,
Is the beating of your heart,
You have to almost lose it,
To remember what you’ve had,
And that there’s been a share of good times,
Mixed in between the bad,
So don’t wait for the ending,
Until your last breath starts to leave,
Before you finally remember,
How much you like to breathe.
~e.h
That’s a nice poem, (and I know you’re just quoting it), but holding your breath when you jump in a pool is just instinct. Even a suicidal person has a survival instinct. That doesn’t mean that they mustn’t *really* want to die.
I’m sure it wasn’t the poets intention, but this poem comes across as really condescending to me. As if all a suicidal person needs is for someone to show them “all they could become”, they’d have a sudden epiphany and realise how wonderful life really is. It doesn’t work like that. At all.
It’s a lovely idea though, even if it is naive.