The tragic death of Heather Armstrong: Mommy blogger's mom opens up on family's devastation

2023-05-11 14:50

'She had a gift of incredible discernment. She could see what people needed,' said Heather Armstrong's mom Linda Hamilton-Oar

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: Heather B Armstrong, a trailblazing author who popularized the 'mommy blog' in the early 2000s, died by suicide at the age of 47. Armstrong chronicled her experiences as a mother of two daughters, as well as her struggles with alcohol and depression.

The author's death was confirmed by her boyfriend, Pete Ashdow, on her Instagram page, where she was known as Dooce. Armstrong's mother Linda Hamilton-Oar expressed that the family was devastated by the loss but was taking comfort in their faith. "We as a family are devastated, but we have faith that we will see her again," she said.

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Who is Linda Hamilton-Oar?

Hamilton-Oar is an Avon lady and had separated from Armstrong's father Mike before marrying Rob Oar. She claimed her late daughter had a gift of incredible discernment and could see what people needed. "I don't think she wore her heart on her sleeve," said Hamilton-Oar. "But she had a gift of incredible discernment. She could see what people needed." "She had it from a young age," Hamilton-Oar said, of her intuition, as per Daily Mail.

Heather B Armstrong's final blog post chronicles her battle with sobriety

In her final blog post, published on April 6, Armstrong discussed her sobriety battle and the difficulties of early sobriety. "Early sobriety resembles living life as a clam without its shell," she wrote. Armstrong described how, in October 2021, she marked six months of sobriety "by myself on the floor next to my bed feeling as if I were a wounded animal who wanted to be left alone to die." She described the milestone as being "fraught with tears and sobbing so violent that at one point I thought my body would split in two. The grief submerged me in tidal waves of pain. For a few hours I found it hard to breathe," she wrote.

The mother-of-two continued, "I had isolated myself entirely from the outside world because I didn't understand what was happening to me. And I was embarrassed. Here, two years into this often frenzied and wandering dance with life, I understand that I couldn't hold anyone's gaze because everywhere I looked I saw nothing but my own worthlessness. And so I chose loneliness. I couldn't handle the idea of anyone else knowing just how bad I felt about myself." She added, "Sobriety was not some mystery I had to solve. It was simply looking at all my wounds and learning how to live with them."

'From a mental health advocate's journey to blogging success'

Armstrong, a prominent advocate for mental health, embarked on a remarkable journey in 2016 when she participated in a groundbreaking clinical trial at the University of Utah. In 2001, she launched her blog called Dooce, which derived its name from her accidental mistyping of the word 'dude' in a work email. Over the years, her blog gained significant popularity, and by 2009, she had amassed a monthly readership of 8.4 million. Through banner ads on her blog, she was reportedly earning $40,000 per month, as stated in a 2019 Vox profile, as per the source.

Struggling with suicidal depression and sharing her experiences openly, Armstrong sought a new approach to combat her condition. In 2016, she shared her struggles online of participating in a three-week clinical trial at the University of Utah. The trial involved inducing her into minutes-long comas three days a week. The initial results of the trial showed promise, with six out of the 10 patients reporting improved mental health, which continued for three months afterward. However, it remains unclear if the treatment Armstrong underwent was advanced for approval or implemented on a wider scale. The trial represented a significant step in her journey, and she later wrote about the experience in her book titled 'The Valedictorian of Death'.

'The Valedictorian of Death'

As part of the clinical trial at the University of Utah, she became the third individual to undergo this experimental procedure. The purpose of the experiment was to explore the effects of inducing temporary brain flatline on mental health. Armstrong expressed that she did not harbor any fear or apprehension about the possibility of it being life-threatening and underwent the treatment a total of 10 times, subjecting herself to multiple sessions of inducing a temporary flatline state in her brain. "It was after the second treatment when I suddenly realized, 'Oh, I showered without even thinking about it.' After the third treatment…I started doing my hair and wearing cleaner clothes," she spoke of the treatment.