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(0 1 ^ - O CN CN S p o t lig h t by Tim W hitnell Metroland W est Media Group "C o n n e c t e d t o y o u r C o m m u n i t y " W om anshares strugglewithdepression, suicidal thoughts £ es D O LU Oakville' s Mina Wahidi has experi 1 1 1 enced the highs of life from accolades, such as being Burlington' s Citizen of s Jubilee < the Year, receiving a Queen' o medal and the Paul Harris Fellow E ship Award, a prestigious Rotary Club o q award. 2 However, all the pride and warm O ti feelings those plaudits engendered in < X CD her were eroded in recent years by the g searing emotional, spiritual and phys 10 ical pain that had her on the verge of suicide several times. There' s a saying that bad things happen in threes. In Wahidi' s case, she was subjected to stresses even beyond that-- call it a sextuple whammy. The hrst signihcant setback in a string of six was the ending of her rocky, culturally-challenging, 13-year marriage, which knally fell apart in 2011. The she went from living in as sisted housing in Burlington as a single mother with three young kids to a move to a geared-to-income apart ment in Oakville. The Tlic second time lime Wahidi WaTiidi seriously contemplated killing herself occurred later in 2015. She said her eldest child, Sarah, then just 16, was instrumental, kguratively, in bringing her back from the brink. "I thought about my kids," said Wahidi. "Sarah is the best of my husband and I. She is sharp, witty and doesn' t take any crap from anyone, I admire her so much. I did not want to mess up her life with a tragedy." The third suicide episode hap pened in early 2016. "I remember one day I was feel ing really good and then I looked in I would suggest to anyone, if you live alone or feel alone get a bird, dog or cat. It's a different kind of relation ship. I saw the (fourthfloor apartment) balcony and said `Man, just do it' Mina Wahidi 99 Mina Wahidi is recovering from a two-year battle with depression with the help of her three kids, from left, Bilal, 14, Mariam, 12, and Sarah, 17, and their dog Royce. | Nikki W esley/M etroland Mina Wahidi If the uprooting wasn' t difkcult enough, four more gut punches oc curred close together starting in the summer of 2014. In a kve-month span, Wahidi was faced with, in order, reluctantly leav ing her paid job at the Compassion Society-- a popular clothing and food charity that she founded in 2000 -- losing badly in a Burlington munici pal ward election, having her mother die six weeks before Christmas and then slipping on ice outside a closed walk-in medical clinic on a bitterly cold night in January 2015, break ing an arm and losing consciousness briefly after hitting her head. In a brutally honest and emotional interview with Metroland Media, Wahidi recounted, often through tears, how she got to the point of almost no return, and how she has been able to turn her life around, with a lot of help. "As someone who cares about my public image, it was a life-changing decision to share my story," she noted. "I had four specik c times where I felt it was best to end my life, and at that time, it looked like the only way to get away from the pain." Wahidi said the periods she seri ously contemplated ending her life occurred about six months apart, each time, starting in early 2015, not long after her devastating fall. Each time a different circumstance intervened, almost guardian angel like, convincing her to carry on. The krst time she decided to end it all was in early 2015. She credits the family pet for intervening and saving her life. On that day she received a call from her kids' school asking why the children didn' t have the lunch they wanted. The call felt like a personal criticism that put pangs of guilt in her soul and, almost literally, put her over the edge. "We have this stupid, silly dog," she said, through tears, about a chihua hua named Royce. "I saw the (fourth-floor apartment) balcony and said, `Man, just do it.' Then he' s licking my face," she said of the little canine. So, she thought to herself matter-of-factly, `Let me take him for a walk and then I'll jump.'" The friendly licks from Royce and the walk cleared her head, bringing her back from the abyss. "I would suggest to anyone, if you live alone or feel alone, get a bird, dog or cat. Its a different kind of re lationship." the corner (of the room) and I felt `its' presence come to me," she said of a fast approaching, hard-to-describe feeling of dread. "I said (to the feeling), `Stay there. NO.' I felt it moving and coming and it just comes over you. I said, `I'm done with you.' I know all about it, (but) it lasted another six months." She admits that marijuana got her through that third close call. "I had a few puffs and I felt a calm ness and that it' s going to be OK. It eased the pain. "Have you ever seen a woman in the mall who' s lost their kid?, she asked. "They're running and scream ing." see W ahidi on p. 9 LLE * *metrolandmedia O PC O n ta rio Press C o u n c il Defending principles fo inspire public trust Beaver. V o lu m e55 | N u m b er8 Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 8 0 Gould St., Suite 2 06, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (4 1 6 ) 3 4 0-1 98 1 . Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. 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