Don't rock the boat, the experts told her father: Misdiagnosis

Pat's journey has taken decades. And she isn't cured. She lives with her illness the way diabetics live with theirs. But now she has graduated cum laude from college, and has a job. She hopes to work in human services and counsel people. "This is the next phase of my life, helping other people not be trapped by this illness."

Now 54, she had lived for long years in the best hospitals, diagnosed and misdiagnosed: depression. Paranoia. Bipolarity. Schizophrenia. But her father didn’t listen to the experts who told him not to rock the boat, to just to let her be stable, and live the life she knew, sheltered and safe.

The secrets of her eventual success in getting to health? Her father’s persistence. A creative hospital program that helped her re-invent her life. A new drug, Clozaril. And as her proud father says, the fact that "Pat never once said, 'I can't do something.'" By themselves, none of these were enough, but together, they have given her back her life.

Read her full story in Beverly Beckham‘s article in the Boston Globe.