At that time I was already in NAMI because he had been in the hospital even though he didn't have the diagnosis of SZ right away. I was attending meetings and people at the support group were telling me, "Change doctors, that doctor isn't giving you the right diagnosis." Because the people in the support group were listening to me every week telling them what I was observing with my son and I don't think he's on the right medicine, he's not getting any better, I think he's getting worse.

So NAMI again I can't thank enough because they were telling me to change doctors or at least be aware that something wasn't really right. The first time I went to a NAMI meeting was because David's first doctor said to me, "You would be helped a lot more for yourself if you joined a support group of other families dealing with what you're dealing with." Because I kept calling her up all the time and asking her so many questions, and she said, "I can't help you. It would be wise to join a support group."

I hope that answers your question. I prayed so hard: "Dear Lord, I just lost my husband and now I fear I'm losing my son." So yes I was frightened, worried, all of those feelings. When we got the diagnosis of SZ I knew that now we could help him and so we did, we did everything, got the right doctor and the right therapist. David joined a peer support group, he went back to college one course at a time and he managed to get a part-time job. He's still seeing his same therapist and doctor. And I've grown and I've learned. We can sit and talk and joke again. Little by little his personality has come back and his sense of humor has come back.

CB: How did David's breakdown affect your daughter?
P: As I mentioned before, when mental illness hits any family, everyone is affected and everyone hurts, and everyone feels it differently. Even in my situation my daughter is two years younger than my son and I really don't know that I 100 percent understood how bad she was hurting, because I expected more from her. Families should know that we look at our son or daughter who is succeeding and healthy and doing well in school as a great personality and great friend. I would say, "Can't you take your brother with you, can't you take your brother with you?" And I didn't realize how much she was hurting. The best advice that was given to me was to get her therapy and she saw a therapist. All this happened a year after losing her dad, starting college and seeing her brother fall apart.

So our siblings, our other children, hurt and in Family-to-Family I urge the parents to bring the other children. They learn, they get compassionate and they also know they need to have their life and still have some kindness and understanding for the sibling who is hurting, who has the mental illness. To have one child who is doing well and one child who is struggling is hard for a Mom yet we love all of our children and have to understand that the well sibling is hurting also and they don't always get a chance to express what they're feeling. So we have to give them the opening to live their life to the fullest and go for their life and know that they have a brother or sister who is finding life a little harder. The siblings need our help also.