‘Long road to recovery’: Family of local business owner speak about mental health after fall

Warning: This article contains information that could affect those with mental health issues

The family of Peg Leippi, the owner of Peg’s Kitchen, is speaking about the importance of taking care of your mental health after she had a fall Saturday.

According to Peg’s daughter-in-law, Alyssa, Peg suffered life-altering injuries as a result of trying to take her own life.

Alyssa spoke on the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Wednesday about the message the family is trying to send by urging people to speak out when they are struggling.

“She was always smiling, always telling jokes,” Alyssa said. “Everyone has told me over the last couple of days how much she would brighten up their day. And yet she was battling all of this internally.

“You would never have even guessed that anything was bothering her. We’re really just wanting to make sure that people get the idea that you never know who’s struggling and it’s OK to not be OK.”

Alyssa says Peg’s battle with depression isn’t something new, but it only amplified throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

“With COVID the last 18 months and operating a small business, she had a lot more stress on her without being able to function her business at full capacity,” Alyssa said. “We really focused on her mental health (and) we did attempt to get her some help through the hospital.

“Mental health is so important and we really just want people to reach out to someone if they’re struggling, or get help, or seek resources so that another family doesn’t have to experience what we’re experiencing right now.”

The family is bracing for a lot of changes including Peg’s physical recovery, rehab, and the adaption to life in a wheelchair while arranging new living arrangements.

“We are very blessed and grateful that she was unsuccessful at this attempt. She does have some very major injuries that came along with this; one of them is that she is now going to be paralyzed from the chest down,” Alyssa said. “So it’s going to be a really long road to recovery.”

The community has started to rally around the Leippis. A GoFundMe page meant to support Peg and her road to recovery had already surpassed over $43,000 as of Wednesday.

According to the GoFundMe page, Peg had emergency surgery on Saturday and she has another one coming up “very soon.” Her injuries included a broken clavicle, a broken scapula, multiple fractured and broken vertebrae in her neck and back, bruised lungs, a broken pelvis and massive trauma to her lower back.

If you or someone you know is struggling, you can reach out to one of these helplines to get help, or call 911 if you are in an emergency:

Canada Suicide Prevention Helpline: 1-833-456-4566

Resources

Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868

Editor’s note: Leippi passed away from her injuries shortly after this article was posted.