January 29, 2025
Two years ago, Bailey Prieve’s son was beyond his breaking point.
The then-6-year-old Urbandale child, struggling with a half-dozen diagnoses that include post-traumatic stress and mood disorders, had been increasingly aggressive toward his family over the past year.
By fall 2022, Prieve and her husband resorted to locking themselves in bedrooms or their cars to separate themselves from his violent outbursts. One day, after an incident at football practice, Prieve said her son came home upset and stormed into his room.
She went upstairs to check on him a few minutes later and found him with a bungee cord around his neck, trying to hang himself from his loft bed.
“Had I waited five more minutes to come up and check on him, we wouldn’t have him here with us,” Prieve said.