Charlotte Lay also saved her husband’s life by encouraging him to receive an early cancer diagnosis.
Warning: This story contains references to suicide and mental health issues.
On a summer afternoon in 2019, nurse Charlotte Lay was getting ready to go to work the night shift as usual, but she was “not feeling well.”
In a short space of time, he decided to take his own life, near a train station in West Yorkshire, England.
But, thanks to the kindness of the train driver who found her in trouble, she didn’t go any further.
Three years later they married and had children.
“I’ve struggled with my mental health since I was a teenager,” says Charlotte, now 33.
Her memories of that day five years ago are “pretty hazy,” but she says she remembers seeing a train stop on the tracks where she was standing.
“I remember seeing a man get off the train and start panicking, thinking he was going to yell at me,” she recalls.
“He came up to me and said, ‘Hi, my name’s Dave, are you having a bad day?’”
“I said, ‘Yeah, a little.’ And he said, OK, we can sit down and talk until we get better.”
Dave, who works for rail operator Northern, remembers climbing out of the driver’s cab, “kneeling” to Charlotte and introducing himself.
He told her they would talk about it – “until you felt comfortable enough” – to get on the train, where she could be taken to a safe place.
The two talked for half an hour, until Charlotte, although still distressed, agreed to get into a taxi. She was taken to Skipton station and left in the care of police.
The next day, she was desperate to find the man who had been so kind to her and put out an appeal in a local Facebook group for anyone who worked at Northern to put them in touch with him.
“I would understand if he didn’t want to hear from me, but I just wanted to say ‘thank you’ for giving me that time and treating me like a human being,” she says.
His appeal was successful. One of Dave’s colleagues saw the post and shared his phone number with Charlotte, who then sent a text message.
Dave, now 47, was equally relieved to hear it.
He says he has “never had the opportunity” to get off the train and talk to someone in crisis before.
“I needed to know if he was OK,” she says. “I contacted the police to try and find out what had happened to her, I just wanted to make sure she was okay.”
“I felt like I had a duty to make sure he was okay. We had made a connection along the way. It was really nice to be able to make that difference for someone.”
After Dave responded to Charlotte’s text, saying he was available whenever she needed someone to talk to, they started texting each other every day.
Two months later, they met for coffee and what happened next happened naturally.
In 2022, the two married, with Charlotte 5 months pregnant.
But first there was another twist in their story.
In July 2020, Dave was diagnosed with testicular cancer after seeing a doctor for back pain.
He is convinced that he would never have gone to the doctor if it had not been for Charlotte’s insistence.
“It’s because I’m a man,” he says.
“I spent 12 or 13 years in the automotive industry working on cold floors and exposed to the elements, lifting and carrying stupid things. I just chalk it up to back pain.”
“Charlotte kept saying, ‘Go to the doctor.’ And I said I was getting old.”
A few weeks after the diagnosis, Dave was free of the disease.
Last year, a doctor at St James’s Hospital in Leeds said he would no longer be alive if he had not been diagnosed with the disease at the time.
“Charlotte might say I saved her life, which I don’t really know, but she saved mine, too,” Dave says.
“Life gets better”
The couple says they want to share their story in hopes that anyone going through hardship can know that better days are ahead.
“Life gets better,” says Charlotte, now a mother of three. “You just have to be here to see it.”
Charlotte says it’s often quite difficult for people going through a crisis to “reach out” and ask for help, so she suggests those around them “reach out.” He continues to receive ongoing support for his mental health.
She believes that asking a person if they’re okay more than once can help them open up.
“We have a duty to each other to be aware of the people around us,” he says.
“You don’t have to offer life-changing advice or say something profound. Simply sitting down and having a cup of coffee can make a difference.”
“Because of what I went through, I had a duty to talk about it and I hope it’s a starting point for a conversation.”
Source: Terra
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
