Woman's emotional letter to police officer who stopped her taking her own life
A young woman has penned an emotional letter to a police officer who saved her life in her darkest hour.
Jazz Thornton was just 19 years old when she ran out of her house to her local park on a cold winter’s night in Auckland, New Zealand.
She had already planned out on how she would take her life that evening and with tears streaming down her face, she sent out “a final goodbye” in a text message.
Nearly three years on, Ms Thornton has revealed what stopped her life being cut short that night in an open letter to Constable Meika Campbell, through her own mental health page, ‘Voices of Hope’.
“I glanced across the park and saw a group of flashlights, afraid that they would come across me before I was dead,” she wrote.
“Suddenly I felt hands holding me up against the trunk of the tree. Those hands were yours,” she wrote.
“Putting me in the back of the car, you came around the other side and sat with me, putting your arms around me while I cried my heart out. While we waited for the ambulance you sat with me, still with your arms around me telling me how much my life was worth.
“I eventually looked up and saw tears streaming down your face as you told me of the future I could have.
“The ambulance came and I was moved to the back of it. You sat beside me, refusing to leave my side letting your partner drive the police car to the hospital so you could sit with me.”
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Ms Thorntong revealed the fear and hatred she was harbouring towards herself as she sat on her hospital bed – all the while, the police officer remained by her side.
“Hours past and your shift had ended and you were still by my side. Eventually you had to leave and you grabbed my phone, dialing in your work number saying ‘I want you to text me tomorrow and tell me you are okay. I believe in you. You can do this. You need to make it to your 21st birthday and if you can do that for me, I will come and find you on that day to say happy birthday’.”
As the months went by, Ms Thornton forgot about that promise but as she later found out on her 21st birthday, Constable Campbell had not.
“You came to my house and knocked on my door just to say ‘Happy Birthday’. To celebrate the fact I was still alive and fighting,” she wrote.
“Thank you Constable Campbell for not only physically saving my life that night, but for speaking hope, for sitting with me, crying with me and seeing a future for me that at that point, I couldn’t see.
“A future I am now living in. Everything I now get to do, every video I create, talk I give or mental health campaign I organise would not have happened had you not stepped in that night. Your intervention and care ensured that I lived to see breakthrough and freedom.
“Thank you for putting your life on the line for our country and while doing so, saving mine.”
Officer Campbell later responded to Ms Thornton’s open letter in a Facebook post through the Auckland Police.
“I feel privileged and honoured that her story was told and commend her for openly sharing her demons to make a difference. Jazz is an inspiration and has gone on to help so many of those within our communities battling depression,” Constable Campbell wrote.
“Police officers are real people, with feelings and emotions just like you, and to no surprise we do not switch them off when we begin our shift.”
Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467.
Kids Helpline 1800 551 800.
