Suicide attempt

Nine months ago, Michael Lucius was dealing with his mother’s death, problems with loved ones, the loss of his job and the pending loss of the trailer where he lived. He said he couldn’t take it anymore and felt attempting suicide was the answer. Lucius left his residence, put an envelope containing his keys and residence title on his neighbor’s door, and left a note on the park manager’s door, granting him power of attorney. He walked past Tiffin Police Department, but officers were out searching for him. He went to the Perry Street bridge but said he chickened out several times. He turned off his cellphone before he jumped. Lucius said he was pretty sure a woman, whom he credits as having a role in saving his life, was reporting him to police. “I just freaked out,” he said. Lucius, 47, said he can’t believe he’s alive. A lot of people told him he’s a miracle. “I’m back to a semi-normal life at this point in time. I’m moving forward,” he said. Lucius said the choice to jump March 2 was made spur of the moment, and he had told himself he had had enough. Lucius, who grew up on Franklin Street and served in the Navy, said his father left when he was 12 and he never had a father figure. His mother had metastatic cancer, and Lucius, who lived with her, put her in a nursing home before she died. In April 2014, her doctor called Lucius at home and told him she needed to be put under hospice care. She stayed at St. Francis Home and was called “Queen Marilyn,” Lucius said. “Mind sharp as a tack, body didn’t work,” he said. Lucius’ mother, described as an extraordinary woman who lived an ordinary life, died June 3, 2014, and was buried the day before Lucius’ birthday. He said he doesn’t celebrate his birthday anymore. “She was my everything. (I) loved her to death,” he said. The death of his mother was just one of several situations that led Lucius to attempt to end his life by jumping off the bridge. Lucius remembers questioning what he had just done. He hit the ice, bounced and hit it again. “Dumb me forgot there was ice instead of water,” he said. Lucius said he knew he was in bad shape. “I couldn’t move. I just laid there,” he said. Tiffin Police Department and Tiffin Fire Rescue Division personnel responded to the scene. A Tiffin Fire Rescue Division crew climbed down a ladder placed on the ice and loaded Lucius onto a board and into a basket. An aerial truck was used to hoist him from the ice. Lucius, freezing and shivering, was taken to Mercy Tiffin Hospital. He then was taken by Life Flight to Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center in Toledo. “I don’t know how I was functional,” he said. Lucius said he thinks he was at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center for eight to nine days, and he spent about 30 days at Mercy St. Charles Hospital. He returned to Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center due to an infection near his spine. “I had the hiccups for nine straight days,” he said. The employees at the hospitals in Toledo were wonderful, he said. “Any need I needed, they met,” he said. Lucius said a guard at one of the hospitals was there to make sure he wouldn’t attempt suicide again. “I have no inkling whatsoever to do it again,” he said. Lucius then spent nine months at St. Francis Nursing Center in Detroit because he had no other place to go. Now, he is living with his friend, Jeremy Probst, in Melmore. “I say I’m free now. He is my only family,” he said. Probst is his chauffeur, and fellow Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous participants have volunteered to give him rides to meetings. “I’m one to always do things myself. Now I have to rely on people,” he said. Lucius said his walker has to be within arm’s reach, and he has been told he probably will have it for the rest of his life. He has constant pain. The incident pushed the heel on Lucius’ left foot 2 inches into his foot, rendered him incontinent and broke several bones in his leg, his sternum and seven ribs. He is on numerous medications, and spasms still occur, but have calmed. Lucius said he damaged lower lumbar, and his left leg is numb from the knee down. He said his nerves are growing back. “They only grow 2 millimeters a day,” he said. Lucius said it has been an interesting journey, and he has learned a lot. He encourages people to talk to somebody about problems first and not hold it in. It doesn’t do any good, he said. “Find some help,” he said. Nine months after attempting suicide, Lucius stopped by Tiffin Fire Rescue Division to thank the crew. “That’s just how I am. Thank you to everybody – everybody,” he said. Capt. Matt Palmer was at the scene the day Lucius jumped and was at the station when he stopped to thank the crew. Palmer said it was nice of Lucius to stop in, and he is glad Lucius is alive. It wasn’t looking the best for him that day, he said. He said most crew members are the kind of people who don’t need people to return and say thanks and the appreciation is not why they’re there. It always is good when someone returns and tells the crew thanks, but it hardly ever happens, he said. “We just don’t want it to happen,” he said. Lucius said he gets goosebumps every time he goes by the bridge. He said he wants to go back. “Closure that I was there: That was the incident,” he said.