The Golden Gate Bridge is finally getting a safety net: ‘It might have saved my son’s life’

Parents who lost their children to suicide have spent years fighting for a barrier. Its completion brings reflection on heartbreaking loss - and a hope for a different future

Heather Quisenberry and her daughter, Mariah Gil, stopped halfway across the Golden Gate Bridge, approached the railing, and looked over the edge. Below them, the waters of the San Francisco Bay were serene, the morning fog drifting from the Pacific Ocean and hiding any signs of civilization.

Heather, 52, walked towards one of the light poles that line the roadway, placed her hands on its cold steel and closed her eyes. Her son, Alexander Quisenberry, jumped from here 18 years ago.