Editor's Note: If you or someone you know needs help, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or live chat at 988lifeline.org.

CINCINNATI — After losing her daughter and caregiver, help from an unlikely place came in for one Ohio mother on the edge of suicide.

She said it was a home health care nurse who helped save her life. 

What You Need To Know

  • Mother of two Alice Bell lost her oldest daughter to breast cancer and her youngest was just diagnosed with liver cancer 

  • Bell suffered her own health issues after it happened; she had a heart attack and was on the verge of taking her own life 

  • But when a home health care nurse from Cityblock Health came in offering her support and friendship, everything changed and helped Bell get back on her feet 

“Crying for my daughter every day, now she’s gone,” said mother of two Alice Bell, who was in tears.

Her oldest daughter died from breast cancer two years ago and her younger one was just diagnosed with liver cancer.

“I still, I feel that way now. Why should I live and my kids die?" said Bell. 

She said around the same time, she was struggling with her own health, both mentally and physically.

“The doctor said that’s why I had the heart attack, and the stroke and the stroke, and the seizures, because I stressed my body out," said Bell. 

It got to the point where she said she just couldn’t take it.

“I wanted to commit suicide three times. I’m sorry," said Bell. 

That’s when Alisha Johnson stepped in.

“I had recently lost my mother, so I think that's where we connected, just dealing with grief ourselves,” said Johnson. 

She’s a registered nurse care manager, a home health care nurse with Cityblock Health in Cincinnati. It was her whose words that changed everything.

“She (Alice) and I just had a conversation about how hurt I would be if she left, how hurt her family would be and how important she is, I would say during that conversation, it's when the light flipped on for her and she was just like, you know, 'I'm not going to do this,'” said Johnson. 

From then on, Johnson helped with everything from finances to doctors' appointments and became the support system Bell didn’t have.

“When I made that impact on her, that was life changing for me," said Johnson. 

So she’d be here to celebrate Bell's 80th birthday. This time in tears of joy with someone in her corner to lean on.

“You just don’t know how happy I am," said Bell.

Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled Cityblock Health. This has been corrected. (Oct. 29, 2024)