Kallie's Mental Health Emergency

Imagine watching someone you love struggle to live and love life. Imagine wondering every time if it’s the last time you will see them. Now multiply that pain times 100 – that’s the pain suicidal people go through on a daily basis without quality treatment. It’s a crime that a price tag has been put on my best friend’s life.

They tell you not to make friends in a mental hospital. At 17, I didn’t listen – and I’m glad I didn’t. Kallie and I hit it off from the start and bonded over the two weeks I was there (she was there longer because of a suicide attempt). I thought that we could make a pact not to harm ourselves when we got out of the hospital, but even then, she couldn’t make that promise. I appreciated her honesty, but I was worried for her. I still am – even more so now.

We have been best friends for almost 10 years. Over those years, we have laughed until we cried and cried until we laughed. We have watched trashy reality TV, had numerous sleepovers, driven miles to see each other, shared music with each other and several Pizza Artista pizzas together. Kallie has truly been the kind of best friend everyone should have. She is that person who goes through so much, and you would do anything you can to take their pain away because they don’t deserve it at all.

Kallie has struggled with self-harm, being suicidal, and an eating disorder throughout my 10 years of knowing her and before we met, too. She has never known her mother’s love, suffered sexual abuse at a young age, and addiction has destroyed her family in many different ways. She was the youngest of four children raised by a single father. Her three older brothers (Lance, Seth, and Cody) struggled with addiction – constantly in and out of rehab or jail.

Lance was murdered and his murderer is a free man today after serving only two years in jail. A year after Lance died, Kallie’s father found Seth in their backyard – he had taken his own life. After losing her last living brother, Cody, to addiction in 2021, she became an only child. All of this trauma and great loss before 24 years old.

After staying inpatient at nearly every mental hospital in Louisiana that accepts Medicaid, attending an intensive outpatient program, going to private therapy for years, and cycling through several different medication combinations, Kallie wants to try an in-state long-term facility. She has literally fought for her life for so long and continues to fight. Money is her barrier to quality mental health treatment, as it is for so many people. Please help in whatever way you can to save her life.

Lance (top), Cody (left), Seth (middle), Kallie (right)

Cody and Kallie

Cody, Kallie, and Lance

Kallie's dad (Michael), Kallie, Cody, and Lance

Venmo: @Kallie-Champagne

Cashapp: $KallieChampagne

PayPal: @mikechampagne2