HIGH hopes, big dreams, a bright future. This was the vision Patricia had for her life before the rueful event of 1975 changed everything.

Then a student of The Queen’s School, Patricia excelled in academics and was well on her way to becoming an attorney when she was diagnosed with two mental illnesses — bipolar disorder and schizophrenia — and was hospitalised for eight months at the psychiatric ward of the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), popularly known as Ward 21.

“I was 16 when it happened,” she told the Jamaica Observer, her tone melancholic and her lips curling in a weary smile. “I remember it like it was yesterday. I was at school and felt something hit me hard in the head. No one had moved and before I knew it I was at the hospital. Persons say I acted up and it was like I wouldn’t have pulled through. I was given nine days to live.”

The incident came as a shock to her family, but on the admonition of the family matriarch — who insisted on her death bed that the older children take care of their little sister — they rallied even more to support her. Today, the 55-year-old woman, a single mother of two, lives with her brother, Courtney, her two children Renee and Nicole, and two grandchildren.

Courtney, the main breadwinner of the family, sees to it that she meets her regular doctor’s appointments and maintains her supply of prescription drugs, which according to Patricia, easily reaches $10,000 before subsidies.

“It costs my brother over $10,000 each time he pays for a visit and medication, but I am a beneficiary of the National Health Fund, therefore the cost is reduced to an extent,” she said.

Said Courtney: “She has to be constantly monitored and we have to see to it that she takes her medication for the specified amounts of time each day. If she does not take them, her condition will worsen and cause her to behave in an uncontrollable manner. However, dealing with her takes patience and willingness. We can’t treat her like she’s different or alien, she’s human and needs attention, care and love like anyone else.”

Patricia’ s older sister Valerie, who lives abroad, also ensures that she spends time with her sister and makes regular trips to Jamaica to that end.

“My sister lives in the States and she always come and look for us,” said Patricia, who laughed while speaking.

She added that Valerie has taken her to Ocho Rios or Westmoreland to visit other family members, stay in guest houses, visit beaches, and even go clubbing. Without her siblings, Patricia said, she would probably be in a nursing home or on the street.

As for her children, Renee and Nicole spoke passionately about their mother and told the Observer that, while things have been emotionally hard on them, they don’t blame their mother for being sick.

“I had it rough growing up,” Renee said. “Whenever she got sick, children at school would laugh, even adults were immature about it. Persons would often ask if a my mother a ‘the mad one’, and even go as far to say that I’m mad too.”

Renee, a second-year university student, said she has suffered ridicule, scorn and loss of friendships as a result of her mother’s illness, but the young woman said she has not allowed any of it to prevent her from attaining her goals.

“I guess everything is a learning process, and I don’t see myself as a victim of the ridicule, scorn, loss of friendships, and other things that came as a result of her illness. I see myself as a victor. I’ve learned to rise above that and face my storms, even ride through it. I tried to live her dream as an attorney, but I [eventually] changed my mind. My ultimate dream is to see her well, in the best of health and to make her proud,” she added.

Nicole, too, told the newspaper that life with her mother during her episodes was not a pleasant experience.

“I remember mommy breaking stuff. At one point she overturned a cabinet full of glassware. She would cut up clothes, cut her hair, burn clothing. At some points she would put on a pot of water to boil and threaten to burn us up. It was very dismal at certain points. I remember the last time her illness got really serious — she moved in a man and woman, with their furniture, into our home. She can never recover from the illness, but it is under control. What happened when she was 16 will forever plague her, but she has us and that’s what she needs,” said Nicole.

Patricia, who has not had a major incident since 2009, said she is concerned about the availability of proper treatment for persons like herself who have a mental illness. Making reference to the incident in which Stephen Fray — a diagnosed schizophrenic — was sentenced to 83 years in prison on charges related to an attempted hijack of a flight to Canada, the woman and her family said the courts should have his case reviewed and remove the youngster from prison and place him in proper care.

As far as best practices go, the family commended the efforts of the Committee for the Upliftment of Mentally Ill (CUMI) in St James in providing health and skills-training services for mentally ill patients. The family, however, has called on the Ministry of Health and relevant authorities to do more for these patients by providing more facilities, in reference to limited space at both Bellevue Hospital and UHWI’s psychiatric ward. They suggested that community mental health services be developed and the number of psychiatrists in the island be increased.

“I like what CUMI is doing, but we are often seen as insignificant and there is a stigma attached to us. People need to understand that as long as we are properly cared for we are no different than the average man. We may even be better,” Patricia said.