Enoch's Story

Stories of Faith

Enoch’s story begins with one Heidi Beth Bickford.

Heidi Bickford was born on October 11, 1991, in Lee, Maine. She was the firstborn child of Mitch and Brenda Bickford. Heidi was followed by three sisters and at last, one brother. Heidi’s dad, Mitch, was the pastor of Lee Baptist Church there in Maine.

Heidi was a quiet, sweet child, with a gentle, kind spirit. She was loved by all her younger siblings as well as her father’s church members. Early on, she exhibited great musical talent and a deep love for and desire to serve God. She had a sweet soprano voice and played her grandfather’s violin beautifully.

In her teen years, Heidi started suffering from extreme anxiety and some depression symptoms. However, most of the time, she was sweet and happy. Heidi soon went off to college at Fairhaven Baptist Bible College in Chesterton, Indiana. It was there that she earned a 4.0 GPA and met her future husband, Daniel McGovern.

Daniel was the son of Terry and Mariann McGovern, former missionaries to Papa New Guinea. Daniel was as well soft-spoken and kind. His dad, Terry, later moved their family to Anchorage, Alaska, where he now pastored.

After Daniel and Heidi were married, they settled down in Lee, Maine near Heidi’s parents. They soon had two sons, Enoch and Ethan. Heidi’s anxiety and depression became worse. She often locked herself in her room. Daniel was very patient and loving with Heidi, doing all he could to help relieve her from the stress of being housewife and mommy. While he was at work, many times it became too much for Heidi to care for her two young, active sons. When home from work, Daniel encouraged her to go for a fun outing and leave their sons with him.

At church, Heidi suffered in silence. Her deep depression only known to her parents, Daniel’s parents, and Daniel. Both of Heidi’s post-partum depressions presented themselves with psychosis. Heidi became pregnant again, this time with a little girl. Her mental health took a sharp turn. She came to believe that the older of her two sons, two-and-a-half-year-old Enoch, was mirroring her personality and demonstrating some of her same depression symptoms.

In the late afternoon of October 4, 2018, Heidi told Daniel she wanted to go shopping at Walmart. She wanted to take Enoch with her, which was unusual. Daniel offered to keep Enoch as he was already staying at home with infant Ethan. She insisted that Enoch go with her, and Daniel let them go. Heidi took off in her car with Enoch. Instead of going to Walmart, she headed out onto Maine I-95.

It was after Heidi hadn’t returned for a longer period than normal that Daniel found her suicide note. He called Mitch, Heidi’s dad, “I need help!”

In the meantime, Heidi had parked her car on the side of a remote stretch of the wooded highway. She got out, took Enoch out of his car seat and wrapped her small son in her coat. While holding him, she ran out in front of an oil tanker speeding down the road. The driver remembers her turning her back to the truck before she was struck—possibly at this last moment showing love and protection for her son.

Heidi was killed instantly. The impact of the truck sent her baby boy flying out of her arms and onto the passing lane.

God’s guardian angels were immediately set in motion—at the exact right time and at the exact right place. The first vehicle on the scene was an ambulance returning to the hospital. In the next car was another expert first responder. In the third car, a nurse. Daniel was told that the responders heard Enoch briefly cry and saw him try to crawl. After he was picked up and rescued, he went unconscious. Within moments, little Enoch was in an ambulance, cared for by two emergency responders and a loving nurse. Very soon after, he was life-flighted to the nearest hospital.

Enoch suffered two broken legs and traumatic brain injury with bleeding on the brain. At the hospital, Enoch was intubated and put on life support for five days. He went into surgery to open his skull to help relieve the swelling on his brain. Almost every bone on his little body was fractured. His left shoulder and elbow turned black. The doctors told Daniel those injuries were the least of their concerns.

Back at the house, Daniel found notes on how to care for infant Ethan—his feeding schedule, what he liked and didn’t like, and so forth. In her suicide note, Heidi confided that she was afraid Enoch would suffer with depression and take his life before he trusted in Christ. She wanted to ensure Enoch was going to heaven.

The doctors were able to save Enoch’s precious little life. The immediate appearance of the expert medical workers, Heidi turning her back on the truck, Enoch flying out of Heidi’s arms as well as being wrapped in Heidi’s coat, were probably the factors that helped save his life. Enoch had to learn to walk again but he was alive.

Seventeen weeks after the accident, Enoch was able to leave the hospital and return home. Enoch called his legs, his blue legs.

After Heidi’s suicide, Daniel was left with devastating grief and the responsibility to support himself and his two sons—one of which was an infant, and the other a healing two-and-a-half-year-old. For months after the accident, Daniel also received gifts from Heidi in the mail. What she hoped would be soothing balms, were only reminders of the pain of losing her.

The news took the story of Heidi and Enoch all over Maine. When Daniel was first interviewed, he said, “Heidi was the sweetest person. Her depression showed many different colors. I can’t understand this tragedy. Why or how? It’s just something I can’t wrap my brain around.”

Heidi’s mom, Brenda, soon wrote a gospel track to share Heidi’s story. She wanted those who suffered with mental health and were considering suicide, to realize the pain inflicted on the surviving family members. She also wanted people to understand that God is good, no matter what. And that the brain is like any organ in the body. Something can go wrong with it.

Brenda private messaged me her story soon after the accident. She knew of the suicide of Ron’s and my son, Jonathan, who had suffered with schizophrenia for fifteen years. After Jonathan’s death, I was in the throes of writing Jonathan’s story in a book entitled, “Always, Only Good: a journey of faith through mental illness.”

Upon hearing Brenda’s story, I grieved alongside my new friend. Her agonizing account sent a bolt-of-lightning through me. How could I overlook such an important mission to help stop each Jonathan and Heidi out there before hopelessness took their lives. This became my passion and has been so ever since losing our oldest son, Jonathan, on Mother’s Day, 2013.

You see, I struggled after eighteen-year-old Jonathan who wanted to become a music pastor became desperately ill with schizophrenia. I couldn’t understand his change from being a promising intelligent, godly, and talented young man, to being comatose in bed all day—sometimes ripping his clothes into shreds and sometimes beating his head against the wall. To be totally honest, I was at first very angry at God, crying myself to sleep every night—many times not even able to go to sleep.

I slowly began to realize what I had really known all along, but because of grief was hidden from my heart. Satan is the cause of sin, sickness, sadness, and death. God made the world and everything in it to be beautiful and good. Satan wants us to think bad things happen because God is not good, but it is instead because Satan is evil.

This truth sank deep into my soul during Jonathan’s illness and has remained there since. Praise God. Hallelujah! I can now look at everything, both good and bad, through the eyes of God’s goodness.

Six years later, in 2024, Mariann McGovern, Daniel’s mother and Heidi’s mother-in-law, contacted my assistant Amy. Mariann and her husband Terry were holding a conference for a small group of missionary ladies from the northern villages in Alaska to discuss a very needy topic in their state—suicide. How could I say “No?” I immediately told Amy, “Tell Mariann, ‘I’m coming.’”

So on February 14, 2025, I flew to Anchorage, Alaska. How appropriate on Valentine’s Day to try to give hope to hurting hearts (of which I am one).

I had a simply marvelous time sharing and fellowshipping with this group of God’s servants in some of the most difficult and remote mission fields around the world. Many times, they have no running water and therefore must use “honey buckets” for their toilets. Their groceries must be flown in from Alaska’s mainland. I was more blessed by this elite group of Christians than I could ever bless them.

I was especially happy to meet Enoch and his family! You see, after the accident, due to so many people in Maine, knowing who he was because of being in the news, Daniel moved himself, Enoch, and Ethan to Alaska to be near his parents.

After Heidi Bickford McGovern took her life, Daniel wrote, "I never expected anything good after this happened. I expected nothing but negativity, but it's been the exact opposite." I actually experienced the same thing concerning Jonathan. As Jon would sometimes talk about taking his life, I imagined the unimaginable grief that would result as well as Ron’s and my music ministry coming to an end. The grief indeed was there. But unbelievably, the opposite happened to our ministry as well as it did for Daniel. God has grown our ministry and given us opportunity to minister to hurting hearts.

Enoch is now almost nine years old. He is a healthy, strong, loving kid. I believe that Enoch was spared by God for a special purpose. Only God. His younger brother Ethan is now almost seven.

Very unusually, as God does, Daniel found a beautiful, sweet woman, Sharon, whose husband had also committed suicide. Sharon was left with three children. Daniel and Sharon are now married and have a combined family of six—Ryan, Emily, Levi, Enoch, Ethan, and now a little girl of their own, Lydia. Sharon lovingly homeschools her children. I got to have a fun pizza lunch with this new and happy family. God is good. To God be the glory, great things He has done.

If you are suffering with mental health issues, please reach out for help. There is always hope. You are loved. You can always message me at shellyh@majestymusic.com.