Caller credits Mike Francesa with preventing his suicide attempt

“If you didn’t say ‘Mike from Yonkers’ at that second, God knows what I would have done.”

A listener who called Mike Francesa on air Tuesday credited the New York radio host with preventing him from attempting suicide.

“Mike in Yonkers” called it at the end of the fourth hour and revealed that he was in a dark place when he called Francesa in November. He was struggling with chronic pain and a dependence on opioid painkillers after a car accident, and was on the verge of suicide when he called and admitted to having knocked out his wife years earlier. 

“Remember eight months ago, when I called you, I was crying?” the called said. “You know why Mike? Because I was on opiates and I was going to kill myself. I had a handful of pills and I was going to take them. God sent you to me at that moment and you took my mind off what I was going to do.”

“If you didn’t say ‘Mike from Yonkers’ at that second, God knows what I would have done,” the caller added. “You were my guardian angel that day, Mike.”

Though Francesa demurred and refused to accept any credit for helping the caller seek the help he needed, Mike clearly needed to hear Francesa’s voice in that moment.