Posted on 11/06/2010 5:54:37 PM PDT by prisoner6
Although Matt Hughes, a spotter on the Discovery series Storm Chasers, died on May 26th, many fans only found out this week when told he suffered "a fatal injury at home." Today, we've learned it was from a suicide attempt.
The death of storm-chaser Matt Hughes was today at the center of intense speculation. Mmany fans only found out the 30-year-old presenter had passed away at the end of Wednesday's episode of the Discovery series in which he starred.
Hughes, who has a wife Kenda and two sons Collin and Hunter, actually died on May 26.
He was not killed in the course of chasing storms — an obsession he pursued for 15 years — but after suffering a fatal injury at his home.
There were today reports that Hughes's death was due to complications from a failed attempt to kill himself.
Aaron Blaser, a meterologist who had worked with Hughes for many years, claimed he had tried to kill himself on May 14.
In a post titled 'RIP Matt', Blaser described on his blog how he was taken to hospital and spent several days in intensive care:
"One of our KAKEland StormChasers, Matt Hughes, was taken to the hospital after trying to take his life. This sentence is still hard to explain and even more difficult to express on a computer screen. Matt was in the hospital for several days in intensive care, there was a 24 hour vigil outside the waiting room, family, other chasers, business associates, etc."
The presenter began working on the hit show as a spotter for veteran Sean Casey.
He pioneered tracking storms in the 'Doghouse' vehicle and Casey was then able to intercept them in his purpose-built TIV-3 shown above. We met Casey and his TIV-2 at SEMA two years ago. Read more about that here.
Yes it’s tragic what he has left behind for those that need to pick up the pieces and move on, but know one on this thread can speculate the seriousness of the depth of his depression and I speak from experience on many, many levels.
On the other hand the last episode he filmed was very moving, he finally got to be inside a tornado, perhaps in his mind he had accomplished all that he had ever hoped for. He hung himself just two days later, which no one I know could see it coming. RIP my friend!
you’d think there would be a few survivors that would say...”next time, screw that”
How was Matt a poser?
The tornado is causing the destruction. You cannot separate the two.
How can someone die from a “suicide attempt”?
Sounds to me like it all worked out.
I did not say he was.
I said he may have been
Pure speculation on my part.
I have never even seen the fellow outside of the publicity photo.
RIP.
Like I said, do some simple research. Almost every question can be answered on the web. And I am sure you might get some help from us Freepers if you ask nicely.
Its like living with bigotry but worse. The main problem is that we can’t see it, so we don’t know that there are billions of people with the same problems all around the world, and we can’t join together with someone who understands because we have to confess it first.
Besides the psychological and physical responses of our mind to stress, there are chemical imbalances, and what is not discussed much because we are an advanced scientific culture, we can also come under spiritual attack. All three fronts should be addressed. It can be daunting.
It is tragic.
I did not mean to disparage the man.
I was only wondering aloud as to what kind of torment may have lead him to suicide.
Then, using your logic, firemen must enjoy other people's misfortune too.
That very elaborate and inventive storm-chasing vehicle, combined with a very specific, narrow fascination, albeit an apparently profitable one, leads me to wonder about manic-depressive disorder. The vehicle and the storm chasing were his mania. The suicide was the final manifestation of his depression.
Chemical imbalance, insufficient treatment of a disorder that he likely inherited.
Such a pity, for the larger world due to the loss of such specialized brilliance, but especially for his wife and children. What could possibly ever seem so bad as to do this to them, let alone himself? I’ve had bouts of depression myself, and for the life of me, can’t ever envision taking my own life.
I’d pray for his soul if I believed that would do any good, but I don’t. So, I’ll pray for comfort for those he left behind. God bless them, they’ll need it.
If they love seeing a fire and chase them, they have to accept they are reveling in the misery of others.
It may be God’s mercy that his suicide “failed”, because it might mean he had time to repent before he died.
Often people change their minds after they attempt suicide, which is often impulsive, and often due to drugs or alcohol.
And often a “failed” attempt is not trying to die, but a call for help.
As for “why”, one never can know. Depression is a terrible thing.
“O the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall / Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. Hold them cheap / May who ne’er hung there.”
Gerard Manley Hopkins quotes (British Jesuit Priest and Poet, 1844-1889)
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