‘We thought we had time’: Easton officer speaks out on postpartum depression after family tragedy

EASTON, Mass. — A local police officer is raising the alarm about postpartum depression. Easton police officer Tyler Sutton saves people for a living. He is now sharing the pain of his wife’s sudden death in the hopes of helping others.

A home video shows Ariana Sutton proudly showing her young daughter and their newborn twins. The video was taken on the family’s last day together. Nine days after Everly and Rowan were born prematurely, Ariana took her own life.

A week and a half after her death, Tyler Sutton copes with his grief by talking about his wife’s pain. “Get more people to focus on it and recognize that it’s a real problem and it hasn’t been talked about enough,” Sutton said.

Behind her smile, Ariana dealt with postpartum depression. “It was so odd to see this sudden change. And it was noticeable. Like I said, we had a plan we put her on medication right away,” said Sutton.

The couple was familiar with postpartum depression after going through it unexpectedly with their first daughter four years ago. “When we first dealt with postpartum depression, we were in the dark. We weren’t prepared. We weren’t warned,” said Sutton. They ended up in a hospital emergency room. “It was like a lingering shadow behind her reminding her every once in a while, that it had happened and making her feel ashamed,” said Sutton.

The depression was so great, they debated whether to have two or three more children. News of twins helped calm their fears.

“We thought the universe made the decision for us, and we were going to get everything we wanted in one last pregnancy,” said Sutton. “We had a therapist, psychiatrist. We had a medication plan for right after the children were born.”

Tyler says after their first child it took months for the worst of the postpartum depression to take hold, but this time it took days. “We thought we had time,” said Sutton.

Now, he is raising three children on his own and sharing memories of their mother who loved them. “She loved being a mom it was her favorite thing in the world. It has nothing to do with them. If she could, she would have stayed,” said Sutton.

The twins are healthy with Everly expected to be released from the hospital this weekend and her brother next week.

A GoFundMe was created to help the Sutton family through this tragic time. Click here if you want to donate.

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