Beth Waldon
October 4th 2017
FAIRFIELD, Iowa — A Fairfield mother and father are still grieving the loss of their 14-year-old son, after he committed suicide in June.
KTVO sat down with his family Friday, to learn more about Finn Winn Bousquet.
Just another day in the life of the Bousquets flipped them upside down in a matter of seconds. Finn's mother Heidi Winn Bousquet got the phone call every parent fears.
"I said is everything ok? And he said ‘no,’” Winn Bousquet said. “I said is Finn alive? And he said 'no, he's not.' And then I asked him where he was and he said he found his body by the train tracks."
A beautiful mind and a beautiful heart, lost to ongoing battle with depression.
"The smiling face, this beautiful child...he was trying to really become something and find himself,” said Fairfield therapist Dr. Scott Terry.
Five months of suicide attempts...
"One of them at least was very serious," Winn Bousquet said. "He took 50 Benadryl and was ambulanced to Iowa City."
And then a moment of clarity. Finn called mom from the hospital to tell her:
"I’m a boy inside and I want to be called Finn,’” Winn Bousquet said. “And I said 'Ok, welcome Finn."
No longer a girl, and for a short time, no longer suicidal.
FAIRFIELD, Iowa — A Fairfield mother and father are still grieving the loss of their 14-year-old son, after he committed suicide in June.
KTVO sat down with his family Friday, to learn more about Finn Winn Bousquet.
Just another day in the life of the Bousquets flipped them upside down in a matter of seconds. Finn's mother Heidi Winn Bousquet got the phone call every parent fears.
"I said is everything ok? And he said ‘no,’” Winn Bousquet said. “I said is Finn alive? And he said 'no, he's not.' And then I asked him where he was and he said he found his body by the train tracks."
A beautiful mind and a beautiful heart, lost to ongoing battle with depression.
"The smiling face, this beautiful child...he was trying to really become something and find himself,” said Fairfield therapist Dr. Scott Terry.
Five months of suicide attempts...
"One of them at least was very serious," Winn Bousquet said. "He took 50 Benadryl and was ambulanced to Iowa City."
And then a moment of clarity. Finn called mom from the hospital to tell her:
"I’m a boy inside and I want to be called Finn,’” Winn Bousquet said. “And I said 'Ok, welcome Finn."
No longer a girl, and for a short time, no longer suicidal.
"Finn said, for himself, that he went from a boyish girl to a girlish boy," said Finn’s adoptive father Jean Bousquet.
Finn was clear and ready to learn.
"Studying became his escape, and he thought he could, by learning, find the key to his anxiety,” said Jean Bousquet.
His parents accepted the change, and so did his peers.
"He came back to school, as a boy, after being a girl for his entire school career at that school, and the school was amazing,” said Winn Bousquet. “Zero tolerant for any bullying, zero tolerant. They nipped that in the bud."
But the depression followed. Because Finn felt different, he felt alienation.
"He had a couple of slips,” said Winn Bousquet. “Sometimes we'd find out that he'd been cutting."
Through the pain, Finn thrived. Thriving with intellect, and the ability to connect with people.
"It was really pretty special to think about what was coming ahead for him," Winn Bousquet said.
At Maharishi's 8th grade graduation, Finn won a highly coveted award for his compassion, integrity, wisdom and courage.
"It was a surprise," Winn Bousquet said. "After that award at graduation in June that two and a half weeks later, he killed himself."
His parents told us about their last conversation with Finn. Medication to neutralize his female hormones was becoming more expensive.
"When he realized, oh wow, we have to change our lifestyle because of that, he felt a burden for the family and we didn't realize how much he felt it," said Jean Bousquet.
Winn Bousquet said she channels her grief into learning how to play piano; something she said Finn used to do himself. She added that it's the stories of Finn that keep their family alive.
"He was so intimate in life and he's still intimate in death," she said.
Winn Bousquet happens to be a clinical director at First Resources Corporation in Fairfield. She told KTVO the doors are always open to patients struggling with mental health and substance abuse.
https://ktvo.com/news/local/fairfield-parents-cope-with-transgender-teens-suicide
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