
The second Kevin Hines vaulted over the railing of the Golden Gate Bridge and began falling toward the cold waters of San Francisco Bay, he felt instant regret.
After falling 220 feet, the equivalent of a 25-story building, he slammed into the water feet first. “When you hit the water the impact of 15,000 LBS of pressure on your body is like a giant elephant suddenly standing on you,” explained Kevin as he addressed a group of young Latter-day Saints in Guam on January 14, 2025.
The momentum of the fall plunged Kevin 40 feet below the water’s surface. “My eyes were bulging and my ears were ringing because of the pressure.” He opened his eyes and thought, “What have I just done?! I don’t want to die! God, please save me!”
He then began frantically swimming upward.
When he finally broke through the water’s surface, Kevin continued to pray, “God please save me. I don’t want to die. I made a mistake!”
Due to serious injuries from the trauma of the fall, he was having trouble staying afloat and was in danger of drowning. “This is it,” he thought. “This is where I die. Nobody is coming to save me. What have I done?! Why did I do this?!”
But his earnest and sincere prayer to God was to be answered through a series of miracles.
A large creature, which Kevin describes as “very large and very slimy” appeared in the water near him and began circling below him and bumping him upward.
“You gotta’ be kidding me,” he thought. “I didn’t die jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge, and now a shark is going to eat me!”
He began punching at what he thought was an attacking shark, but the animal was not deterred and continued swimming faster and faster in circles below him, bumping Kevin’s head, elbows and knees, effectively keeping him afloat. “I was being kept alive by this creature,” Kevin said.

The creature turned out to be one of the Bay Area’s sea lions. Kevin is certain that in answer to his prayer, God sent this sea lion to save him. “If that’s not a miracle, I don’t know what is,” he says.
Onlookers and passersby also reported witnessing the sea lion staying with him, keeping him afloat until a Coast Guard boat finally arrived to pull him from the water.
He was told by one of his Coast Guard rescuers how miraculous and unlikely it was that he had survived. “This year alone we’ve pulled out 26 dead bodies and only one live one . . . you.”
In fact, it is very rare for anyone jumping into the bay from the bridge to survive.
Kevin was rushed to the hospital where he experienced his next miracle. . .
The impact of the fall had crushed his lower vertebrae. Miraculously, one of the foremost back surgeons in the world just happened to be visiting the hospital that day. This surgeon conducted the emergency surgery, using an original, innovative procedure to mesh the vertebrae together, thus making it possible for Kevin to eventually regain his ability to stand, walk, and run.
Of the only 40 survivors of San Francisco Bay Bridge suicide attempts, only 5 have been able to stand, walk, and run.

Kevin was blessed by his Heavenly Father with a second chance. He would make the most of this gift to bless the lives of as many people as possible. He has dedicated himself to rescuing his fellow brothers and sisters who might be experiencing so much pain in life that they are contemplating suicide.
Kevin’s message for others is two-pronged:
- Life is a wonderful gift from God. If intense pain and anguish is pushing you toward suicide, do not bury your feelings. There are always many loved ones and friends who will move heaven and earth to help you. During the presentation, more than once Kevin had the group repeat loudly the phrase, “I . . . need . . . help . . . now!” “Don’t be afraid to ask for help,” he implored. “Don’t be embarrassed to tell others you need help.”
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If you see others in pain, do not ignore them. He counseled, “The next time you see someone in your community in active, lethal, emotional pain, their hands on their head, their eyes sobbing with tears, they are visually and physically in pain, I implore you to not walk by . . . Walk directly up to them and say, ‘Hey you’re breaking my heart! What’s going on? Are you okay? Is something wrong? Can I help you?’”
Kevin points out that often people who are unkind to us especially need our sympathy and help. “Hurt people hurt people,” he counsels.
For Latter-day Saints, Kevin’s example of Christlike ministering is a wonderful example to learn from and follow. Kevin, Lena, and Ashley Rodriguez of Todu Guam Foundation sponsored his visit in their continued efforts to provide essential healthcare services for Guam’s most vulnerable.
Kevin explained that for 40 minutes before he jumped from the bridge, he stood at the top of the bridge sobbing, hoping someone would see him and reach out to him. His life had been extremely difficult.
As very young children, he and his brother had been taken by Child Protective Services from his dysfunctional home as young children. They were continuously moved from one home to another, where he continued to experience neglect. At one point, they contracted severe bronchitis, and his brother died while lying right next to him.
Finally, Kevin was adopted along with two other children by two wonderful parents, Patrick and Debbie Hines. With these two loving parents, Kevin finally found the love and stability he needed to thrive.
He dreamed of going to college and having a career someday. He was a valuable member of his high school wrestling team.
But then at 17 according to Kevin, “My world came tumbling down. I began to have fits of paranoid delusion. Auditory and visual hallucinations. Misaligning chemistry in my brain.
By 19 I was a broken shamble of my former self. I began to have suicidal thoughts.”
Eventually he found himself at the top of the Golden Gate Bridge, having written a suicide note to his family and friends. He was embarrassed to tell people of his suicidal thoughts. Joggers, bikers, tourists and even patrol officers passed by him, but no one asked the sobbing Kevin if he were okay.
One lady with blond, curly hair approached him, but to his disappointment, she simply asked in a Slavic accent if he would take her picture. He took a few pictures of her, and then she walked away.
“No one cares,” thought Kevin.
A voice in his head shouted, “You need to die now!”
And he vaulted over the railing.
“The worst thing you can do is to bury your pain and not let it show,” explains Kevin. "People are really good at doing that. Don’t be embarrassed. Your feelings are valid. You deserve to be heard. There are people who will listen and care.”
After his experience at the Bay Bridge, Kevin was surprised to learn in hindsight how many people actually did love him and did care for him, particularly his parents. He states that knowing the pain that his suicide attempt caused is a positive motivator for him to never attempt to take his own life again.
Kevin repeatedly implores everyone to reach out to those who are lonely and in pain.
“You can be the catalyst to saving a life. You could be the reason that someone’s mother, father, sister, brother, friend, still has them in their life. And that would be a miracle.”
Several times, Kevin reminded the youth that life is a gift. And that each individual around us is a gift.
“I have been given the gift of a second chance in this life. I don’t take that for granted,” he says.

He travels the world tirelessly proclaiming his message. He urges his audiences to share their pain with him, promising that he will not leave the building until he has listened to anyone who needs his listening ear. He will do anything to help people get the help that they desperately need.
His sincerity is palpable and the compassionate spirit he conveys is undeniable. He cares and he understands.
“I was impressed when he had us chant ‘I need help now!’ and encouraged everyone to be brave enough to tell everyone that you need help. What a miracle that he survived and was able to walk! That was crazy!” said Hyrum Brown of the Dededo Ward.
A devout Roman Catholic, Kevin talks openly about his faith in God everywhere he goes, and the power of his faith in sustaining him. He explains that pain, paranoia and thoughts of suicide still plague him, but God, his beautiful wife Margaret, and his friends and loved ones keep him grounded and moving forward.
“I want people to recognize their true value in life. Suicide is never the solution to their problem; it is the problem,” he says.
Indeed, his mission on this earth was not finished on that fateful day in January, 2000. The Lord prepared him as a vessel to help save others.
The miracles that saved Kevin continue to multiply as he sets his pains and trials aside and seeks out those who desperately need to hear his message.