Could we have stopped Freddy E from committing suicide?

I am shocked.

A few days ago 22year old Youtube comedien and rapper known as Freddy E committed suicide. What made this suicide so bizarre, is that he posted his last thoughts on Twitter moments before he pulled the trigger. Freddy E. was best known for his Internet program Jerk TV, which usually featured humorous yet profane segments. On the flip side, they often came with a moral or some type of cautionary message.

Chilling posts from rapper Freddy E moments before he took his life

Social media has been a means to build brands, to educate, to market products, to entertain, to network..the list is endless. It is also used as a medium in which people may cry out for help. How many times have you read Facebook posts of friends talking about their despair or heartbreak. This is often criticized as over-personalizing social media but isn't it natural to use the means by which we communicate every day to express one's emotion?

As a medical professional, I urge you all to look out for suicidal tendencies in your friends online and act immediately if you suspect something off. Do not just tweet back or put a question mark on the post. Pick up a telephone and try and talk to the person. Let them know they are loved. Call for help. Find out the suicide hotline for your country. It could save a life.

Depression and suicide are topics I have blogged about. Looking out for the signs of a suicidal person and averting depression. Click here and here to revisit those posts.

Comments

Saving Mandy

When you have influence, it is your duty to stand up for others and help others up too We had so much in common. We were both born and grew up in the same sleepy hometown of Bulawayo, almost same neighborhood. We attended the same high school, some years apart, but both proud and loud Convent girls. At some point, we must have taken the same Parklands surburb bus from City Hall to home. Our siblings almost same age-groups; our families and friends intertwined all the way back to roots in Dombodema rural home. We both went on to study medicine, she did dentistry, I did MBChB. But eventually we both did a masters in Public Health in the same programme at the University of Zimbabwe. We both got married and set up home in Harare. Bulawayo girls stick together when they arrive in the big bad city. When I had Anashe, she had Siyabonga. We were both pregnant in 2018. Being senior medical professionals we both had access to the “best” medical care. We both had Cesarian Sections...

What My Aunt's Death Left Behind

This weekend we buried uNaTatji. She was one of those women whose presence quietly held a family together. Gentle, yet strong. Cheerful. Curious. Loving. She felt like home. She was an anchor. As we gathered under the bright blue Thekwane sky and stood around her grave, it felt like more than one person was being buried. It was as though we were grieving all our parents... those who have already gone before us, and those who are still here but have reached the age we quietly fear. Something shifts when the generation above you begins to leave. You realise that the foundation you have always stood on will not always be there. You realise that you are becoming the adults. One of the hardest parts of the weekend was watching the mantle being passed. We, the children, suddenly found ourselves organising, coordinating, making decisions, carrying responsibilities that had always belonged to our parents and aunties and uncles. Thankfully, the older generation was still there, gent...

Waiting for Healing: The Quiet Crisis at Parirenyatwa Radiotherapy Centre

Every morning, before Harare has woken up, there is already a line forming. Not a short or orderly queue that moves with predictable rhythm. No, a long, patient, aching line of people who have nowhere else to go. I drop off my relative there each weekday at the Radiotherapy Centre at Parirenyatwa Hospital. He is battling a brain tumor. That alone is a heavy sentence to carry. But it is not the only burden he carries. Because before treatment comes waiting. And before waiting comes arriving early enough to have a chance. The Queue That Starts at Midnight There are two queues. One for those who can pay or who have been marked as priority. And one for everyone else. Both queues are unpredictable. You can wait for hours on any unsuspecting day. By midnight, people are already gathering. They sit or lie down holding their place in a tent outside the centre. Names are written down and some have made a business of queueing for others. Many have travelled from outside the capital city. Fro...

It's SteeTime!

Search This Blog