LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – Patricia Main spoke with Cynthia Marek on Saturday to celebrate her sister’s 65th birthday.Number birthday.
The 72-year-old St. John’s native never knew that this would be the last time she would speak to her sister, “the youngest of the family.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health issues, including thoughts of self-harm, please call the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline on 988.
Marek’s son, Brandon Lovely, 42, was arrested, according to Lansing police. Stabbed his mother to death Thursday evening at the couple’s Bruce Street home. Marek died in hospital. Labrie also suffered “life-threatening” injuries and “underwent life-saving surgery in hospital last night,” Main said.
“Marek was a kindergarten teacher and was planning to retire in the fall. She loved animals and she loved children,” Main said of her sister.
“She loved gardening and plants,” she told 6 News, “She had flowers blooming everywhere and she also took care of stray kittens. She would let them run loose in her shed.”
Marek was the youngest of four children and grew up in St. John’s. During his senior year of high school, he was in a relationship with the man who would become Brandon’s father, but the man didn’t come into Brandon’s life until after he graduated from high school.
To make ends meet, Marek worked in the health care industry as a home care aide for people with disabilities and hospice residents.
“But the cost fell on my sister too,” she says of her sister.
Her sister was deeply religious but did not participate in organized religion or attend any particular church.
“Cindy and Brandon were praying together,” she says.
“She loved kids, so she decided to become a teacher,” Main said, “so she decided to go to LCC and she got her certification, and every time she got recertified, she was always so proud of herself, because school wasn’t easy for her, so this was a big accomplishment for her.”
Marek has worked as a teacher at several local preschools for more than a decade and also cared for her son, who suffered a head injury in Florida, Main said.
The injury caused chronic pain and seizures, sending mother and son to the local emergency room on a monthly basis. As the pain and seizures continued, and modern medicine could not find a solution, Lovely’s mental health also deteriorated.
Though Mayne didn’t have much time to spend with Lovely last year, her sister said she noticed a change in him: He was growing frustrated with the lack of medical solutions for his pain and seizures.
About five weeks ago, this frustration led Lovely to attempt suicide.
“He had gotten to a point in his life where he said, ‘enough is enough,'” Maine said of his nephew. “Cindy couldn’t allow that to happen… She couldn’t walk away. It was her son.”
Mr Lovely was hospitalised briefly after the suicide attempt, but Main and his sister said they assumed he would be referred to a facility “to make sure he was OK”.
He wasn’t. He was released from hospital and returned to his Bruce Street home with his mother.
She says this is part of a failure of the mental health system, which is ill-equipped to deal with mental health concerns and crises.
Maine said he did not publicize the situation to justify Brandon’s alleged actions.
Mr Maine said if he was guilty of killing his mother, “he should never see the light of day. He should never see the light of day.”
She fears Lovely will succeed in “what she started five weeks ago” by attempting suicide.
“He loved his mom very much,” she says of her nephew.
“Whatever happened, I’m sure it was due to his mental state,” she said. “I don’t think it was malicious or anything like that.”
She said she will miss her sister’s gifts, including making clothes and matching handbags for her Barbie dolls, her love of cats and tropical fish and her kindness.
“I just can’t believe it,” she trailed off. “The whole world just fell apart and disappeared, you know?”
