# Very sad news regarding a KB member



## Someone Nameless (Jul 12, 2009)

I was saddened to read that one of our own, RhondaRN, is now at peace.  She struggled every single day after the suicide/death of her precious daughter.  She is now with her. This must be so hard for the family to bear losing two family members so tragically.  Please keep all of them in your thoughts and prayers.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Oh dear -- where did you learn of this?


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## Someone Nameless (Jul 12, 2009)

From my friend who also lost her son to suicide and was a friend of Rhonda's and from Rhonda's FB page.


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## 31842 (Jan 11, 2011)

Oh no... oh that is so terrible... I know she struggled with that terrible loss.  I have a friend who lost a child tragically and I saw first hand that the pain over losing a child is indescribable, more than anyone should have to bear.  I hope that Rhonda has found peace and that those she left behind find the strength to continue on.


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## D/W (Dec 29, 2010)

Here are links to the funeral notice/online memorial and the book Rhonda wrote in tribute to her deceased daughter, Kaitlyn: My Bright Shining Star: A Mother's True Story of Brilliance, Love & Suicide.

I am so saddened by this news. I know that Rhonda helped a lot of people by sharing her grief and courage since her beloved daughter's suicide.

My sincere condolences to her family.


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

I'm so sorry to hear this. I remember when her daughter passed away and the blog Rhonda started in her memory.


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## Jane917 (Dec 29, 2009)

I am so very shocked! I was in touch with Rhonda for a while. How devastating to her husband and daughter!


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

This is very sad news--thanks for sharing. My thoughts are prayers go out to her family.

L


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Oh, so sad.  Rhonda was a long time member...

Betsy

Sent from my KFTHWA using Tapatalk HD


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

Very sorry about this too.


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## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

Sad news.


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## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

So sorry to hear that.


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

_"&#8230;and this is the weaving of human living:
of whose fabric each individual is a part;
each is intimately connected with the
bottom and the extremist reach of time:
and not one of these things nor one of these persons
is ever quite to be duplicated or replaced:
but each is a new and incommunicably tender life,
wounded in every breath, sustaining for a while,
without defense, the enormous assaults of the universe."_

- James Agee


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## 69959 (May 14, 2013)

That's heartbreaking.  My prayers to her family.


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## Sapphire (Apr 24, 2012)

I remember Rhonda and her book. This is sad news.


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## Josey Alden (Aug 6, 2013)

Rhonda had incredible strength to write about her daughter's suicide in the midst of her own raw grief. I knew her briefly, and I would have been proud to call her "friend." I'm so sorry to hear of her passing.


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## KBoards Admin (Nov 27, 2007)

I am so very saddened to hear this. Rhonda was a good soul who was a kind friend to many on KBoards.


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

Very sad.


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## Kirkee (Apr 2, 2014)

This is really a tough one. I didn't know the lady, but can easily relate to what she must have gone through. Over the years, I lost two good friends, a sister, and then one of the kindest human beings I ever knew, my common-law-wife Peggy, this past January. Truth is, I had doubts I'd be able to get through it at the time. Some folks love so much...and when they lose that person they're so attached to life just becomes utterly unbearable & you're not even certain that you can get through the day, let alone go on living. But here I am, about 8 months later, hanging in...keeping busy, doing some reading, doing some writing, riding my bike, watching a DVD now & then, visiting Kboards (& other sites). It's unfortunate that Rhonda wasn't able to get through the harshest moments of her loss. 

Sometimes, this is what it takes: taking it one day at a time, keeping your mind occupied...so that you don't dwell on this person that you love & continue to love all the time that is missing from your life now. I don't say: don't think about the gone person at all, but make every effort to do some other type of thinking, anything, so that the aching for that other person does not paralyze you.  

All of it sounds far easier said than done... My heart always goes out to anyone who has ever gone through this and/or is experiencing this presently... So many of us can relate; in fact, if you are an adult, as I presume many of us on the boards are... you have gone through something of this nature. This is the part of life that sucks. Always. Life can be great & should be looked upon as the miracle it genuinely is...but then tragedy strikes...and there you are in anguish & agony & wondering if any of it is worth it even.

Quiss: Thanks. Those words pack a wallop.

Betsy: Your kindness hits home & is so appreciated.

Kboarders: The kindness of Kboarders. People know what loss is. So many of us know how much something like this can hurt.

I have just purchased Rhonda's book. It won't help; I know it won't help one bit, but I want to see what went on, what happened; I want to know who her daughter was & what she was about, as well as who Rhonda was & what she went through.  

I hope this does not come across as too harsh: but it could be that writing about her daughter actually pushed Rhonda over the edge. The constant thinking & dwelling on her loss compounded her depression, underscored the loss...from which there was no getting away from.
Loss can be hard enough, but then to write about it, to spend months (sometimes years) thinking and analyzing it (which any book about the gone person would require.) Perhaps more distance would have been better. I don't know. I can't help but think that maybe not writing about her loss might have been the safer way to go. 


I know; it's a moot point at this time. 
RIP X 2

Kirk


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## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

This breaks my heart. I reached out briefly to Rhonda, because I know the all-consuming wrath of depression. We live not too far from each other. Maybe if I'd tried harder... Met her for lunch... Taken her away to the beach... Something. I don't know. Maybe it would have helped. Maybe not.

For those that don't know depression, please know it is real. It's not voluntary. It grabs it's victims and it is so hard to shake it off. Depression wants one thing--your life.  Even if you can't shake it, please never give it that one thing. Keep your life just to spite it... And maybe one day it'll leave you. Get help. If you refuse medication, at least talk to someone--anyone. 

The videos Rhonda posted a few days before her death gutted me. The link is on her author page at the 'Zon. But like the song, I hope she and her daughter are wrapped in the arms of an angel, at peace, finally.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

So very saddened to hear this. It was clear even through the filter of the Web that Rhonda was in immense pain.

May she rest in peace.

My heart goes out to her loved ones. They will be in my prayers.


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## hamerfan (Apr 24, 2011)

Devastating. 
Condolences to her family and friends.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

So sad to hear this. I read her posts after she lost her daughter and I could just feel the pain and grief and her heartbreak in the words she wrote. 

My thoughts are with her family.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

I only knew her through Kboards and her posts about her daughter, but this is her blog (*WARNING* that it's very sad and difficult to read this . . . so you may not want to look at this):

http://welding81.wordpress.com/

She posted an article from Gothamist about a med student in NYC who jumped from a window. There was a photo of the building on York Ave. It haunted me, because I used to have a friend who lived in that building. My friend was a psychiatric nurse who committed suicide with pills in 1993.


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## ElHawk (Aug 13, 2012)

Terribly sad. I'm so sorry to hear this.


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## Kirkee (Apr 2, 2014)

mlewis78: Paid the site a visit.

So now two good people have taken their lives: daughter AND mother. 

I often wondered how folks in the medical profession were able to handle the stress that came with it.
Of course, now we see how very difficult & nearly impossible it is.

Seems Rhonda was pretty special, as was the daughter. 

My condolences to the family.


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## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

I never interacted with Rhonda on the forums, but I remember the thread she had about her daughter and I visited her blog. It was heartbreaking and now this... it's just awful. My prayers and thoughts go out to her husband and her other children (if I recall she had another daughter) and the rest of her family and friends. RIP.


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## angel_graham (Mar 16, 2011)

Go with the angel, Rhonda.  You are with your daughter again.  Be at peace.


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

Rhonda, go into the light.



Lisa Akers said:


> For those that don't know depression, please know it is real. It's not voluntary. It grabs it's victims and it is so hard to shake it off. Depression wants one thing--your life. Even if you can't shake it, please never give it that one thing. Keep your life just to spite it... And maybe one day it'll leave you. Get help. If you refuse medication, at least talk to someone--anyone.


Lisa, thanks for posting this. I will hold on to it, just in case that monster ever comes near me.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

I feel very bad about the loss that her husband, living daughter and other family members are experiencing now.


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## D-C (Jan 13, 2014)

How awful. My heart goes out to the family. Words just aren't enough.


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

Oh my. That is so sad. Deepest sympathies to her friends and family.


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