A Father's Story, One Year Later
A year ago, August, my son was hospitalized for the second time. New York Cornell Hospital put Daniel in seclusion in the psychiatric section of the hospital. I brought him back to Montefiore Medical Center in a psychotic state. He wouldn't take his medication or eat any food. He was so frightened he thought everybody was out to hurt him. MMC also put him in seclusion which means a small room with just a cot to sleep on and nothing that he could hurt himself with.
The door was thick with a very small window. I would call it a prison cell. He had a twenty four hour nurse to make sure he wouldn't hurt himself. I came to visit Daniel every day. They let me go into his room. His face stared into space. He was so delusional I didn't know what to do. All I could think of was this young man who didn't speak to me was my son. He was cut off from the rest of the world. In a small room he was ill and needed my help.
As I look back over the past year I see a great improvement in my son, Daniel. He has come a long way since that second stay which lasted a month at MMC Psychiatry. And he was in such bad shape. Now a year later, with the help of his psychiatrist, psychologist, the medication, Risperdal, and most of all his association with Ken Steele and his work on New York City Voices, where he is now managing editor and working for Mental Health.
Daniel is now able to express his feelings and speak in front of many people on mental health issues as he has done at the Schizophrenia Research Conference at Columbia University last spring. He leads an Awakenings Group every Thursday night in New York City. He traveled with Ken Steele to Washington, D.C., Albany, New York and New Jersey on behalf of Mental Health and was privileged to see Ken Steele receive the Clifford W. Beers Award at the National Mental Health Conference. Daniel accepted the Media Award for Local Television News Programming on behalf of Leora O'Carroll of WNBC at the National Mental Health Conference in Washington, D.C..
The program, "Four Stories," which focused on Ken Steele's story, Daniel viewed while still at MMC Psychiatric during his second hospitalization for schizophrenia. This show, which a good friend of mine told me and Daniel to watch, brought Daniel together with Ken Steele. Daniel was also on the Ten O'clock News on channel eleven this summer, getting local news coverage around NYC and the Tri-State Area. He explained his story so people will understand the side of a young man doing well who happens to have a brain disability known as schizophrenia.
When Daniel went public about his illness I felt it was a big step for him, knowing he had denied having schizophrenia for a long time. He was embarrassed that his old school friends would find out and what his present friends would think of him. Now that he speaks out and he told his present friends about his illness, they understand and support him. I feel that it has helped him face his illness and I am very proud that he is speaking out and helping others who are in denial about their mental illnesses and taking their medication. As I am writing this story, Daniel has appeared on ABC World News Tonight on Channel 7 talking to a nationwide audience about his experience with schizophrenia. Daniel will be going back to Lehman College to get his Bachelors degree and will continue to work for Mental Health through New York City Voices plus travel with Ken Steele to many other conferences around the country.
As Daniel's father I am so proud that he has come so far. I can only say that a person with schizophrenia can live a normal life and excel in our society by taking his or her medication and with family or friends, consumers and clinicians behind him.