How Bill Clarke; A Complete Stranger Helped Save My Life

While staying in Calgary, Alberta; separated from my family and staying in an AirBnB, I decided to go get some groceries on a Monday night. Right beside the grocery store was a chill-looking Irish pub that served up craft beer, so I decided to go in, and the plan was to have a couple of pints and try some locally made beers, watch the game, go back to my AirBnB, and go to bed.

Long story short—this guy sits at the bar with me who was near the top of a big cabinetry company. Having done a lot of building and carpentry, plus being in business and marketing myself, we got talking.

Then came the shots. Then the pub closed at 10. Then he offered me a few lines of cocaine (which I never touched until a few months before), and being in the headspace I was in, I didn't give a rip anyways. Then he invited me back to his place to hang out with friends.

My last memory was probably around 3 AM, then a flash around 11 AM getting an Uber back to the AirBnB.

My next memory?

Waking up around 5:30 PM—handcuffed in the back of a Calgary Police SUV, wondering what the fuck happened.

I asked the officer in the driver's seat, as he's making notes, why I'm here and what's going on.

He was very polite, cordial, and empathetic, but he said, "You've been charged with mischief under $5,000."

I replied with, "What the hell happened!?"

"You caused a bunch of damage in the AirBnB."

I was absolutely horrified and still super messed up. I had absolutely zero memory of anything. I don't know if I got drugged; it certainly wasn't because of too much booze the night before because that would have worn off.

He drove me to a hotel instead of to the cells, thankfully. He dropped me off, and I don't really recall much, but I made eye contact with Bill in the lobby, and when you've been in that incomprehensible dark place, where you're on the verge of just ending it, you can take one look at someone who's there and you instantly know, and if you care, you drop everything to do what you can because you know you might be the only thing that might prevent them from taking their own life.

That's what Bill did for me. He took me outside to a quiet, private place and just sat with me and listened to everything I was going through for what felt like hours.

Ever since that day, he has not missed a single day to check in on me. That was the first thing he would do when he woke up: text me. Every. Single. Day since then, without fail.

That's just who he is.

He's been on the front lines, putting his life in harm's way for people who will never know his name since 2014, fighting forest fires in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, and other places in Canada, including the massive fire that ravaged Fort McMurray (2016) and Jasper (2024).

He does home repairs for people in need, such as seniors, for free.

That's the caliber of a man he is, and this world cannot afford to lose a person like him.

Bill is closer to me than a brother. He's a 1-in-10-million kind of person.

He's losing everything because he cannot work due to the excruciating pain he's in everyday, all day and night.

I've put in countless hours worth thousands of dollars to me, a lot of tears, and urgency to help as best I can to help him with what he's going through—even though he never asked once.

That's Bill. He just keeps trucking, but he needs our help and most definitely needs it.

I hope you'll follow my lead in making sure he can maintain some quality of life without losing everything and ending up homeless while he battles this horrifying disease nicknamed the "suicide disease."