Visions of Liberty
Donation protected
In spring 2019, the first of a four book series will be released called Understanding Libby: A Mother's Journey with Childhood Paranoid Schizophrenia. Anyone who donates $15 or more after 1/20/2019, will receive a free autographed digital copy of the first book, which is a journal of the first year of our experiences plus an interview with my daughter (conducted during one of her recent lucid periods) after it's released.
Goal: To raise enough money to pay for the many expenses from my daughter's mental illness. She is officially diagnosed, as of January 2019, with schizo-affective disorder with anxiety and panic disorders with paranoia. What this means is she has schizophrenia combined with a mood disorder, in this case, major depressive disorder, severe, recurrent. She also has dyslexia. She has, unknown to us, has symptoms since the age of two. In 2017, we began actively and aggressively treating her symptoms. Less than 1% of the world's population has schizophrenia. Schizo-affective disorder is even rarer, especially in a child. Multiple providers have said they've never seen a case as severe as hers. Her treatment teams are extensive and managing this illness is a full time job in itself. It's taking both of us to help her on a daily basis.
Libby suffers from hallucinations that are visual, tactile, and auditory, meaning she sees things, feels things, and hears things that aren't real and can't tell the difference between reality and her hallucinations. She also suffers from paranoia, which means she believes people, even family members and medical providers, are going to harm her. Unfortunately, this means that she believes that people who aren't real are going to kill her. At times she thinks we hate her, are lying to her, or are going to kill her. She suffers from severe delusions, which are beliefs that despite evidence they're wrong, she still believes. She regularly says she hates her life and wants to die. All of these symptoms severely affect her life every day.
It's taken us 8 years to reach this point but the worst has been the last two years as we've struggled to understand and have sought treatment. She suffers regularly from psychosis, which is a short term loss of contact with reality. That means she cannot distinguish between her hallucinations and reality and becomes lost to the horrible hallucinations she suffers from. During periods of severe psychosis she has to be hospitalized. She spent over 120 days inpatient for treatment in 2018. This diagnosis is lifelong and requires consistent treatment to manage. She receives some social security disability and Medicaid but it's not nearly enough to cover the costs.
In addition, in 2018, my husband who was her full time caregiver while I worked multiple jobs to take care of us, became ill and disabled. He now walks with a cane and suffers from non-epileptic seizures which means he can no longer drive. They are caused by his nervous and immune systems attacking itself. We are actively working on a solution. My son has autism and struggles with depression. In October 2018, due to multiple medical crises, I lost my job and cannot collect unemployment. We're in about as dire of a financial situation as we can be as I look for a job, resources, and struggle to maintain my real estate business. In essence I am everything to three disabled individuals and am disabled myself with PTSD. The last year has taken its toll but still I fight to work and support us.
I'm the type of person who tries not to ask others for help. But when it comes to my child, I'll do whatever it takes. So I'm here asking for help, even though it hurts so much to have to do so. We realized we cannot do this alone.
I realize some people may not believe or understand this situation, especially with what happened recently on GoFundMe where people were scammed (and reimbursed by GoFundMe). That's fine. I can't possibly explain all the aspects of this situation in a single post. What I can tell you with absolute certainty is that no matter what, I'm in a battle to save my child's life. At the end of the day, that's what's at stake. Because all it will take is one time that I miss a sign and she actually kills herself. She's currently homeschooled because she cannot function in a traditional school setting. At some point in the near future, enter into puberty. The therapist has already warned me this is the tip of the iceberg - once she hits puberty, all of this gets so much worse.
I've tried to hit the most important facts of the situation (and I hope there's not a word limit to this post). If you have a question or concern, please comment and I will do my best to respond to it when I'm able. I will also post updates as I can. If you're not able to give money but can share our story, that's appreciated just as much. Thank you for taking the time to read, if nothing else.
Goal: To raise enough money to pay for the many expenses from my daughter's mental illness. She is officially diagnosed, as of January 2019, with schizo-affective disorder with anxiety and panic disorders with paranoia. What this means is she has schizophrenia combined with a mood disorder, in this case, major depressive disorder, severe, recurrent. She also has dyslexia. She has, unknown to us, has symptoms since the age of two. In 2017, we began actively and aggressively treating her symptoms. Less than 1% of the world's population has schizophrenia. Schizo-affective disorder is even rarer, especially in a child. Multiple providers have said they've never seen a case as severe as hers. Her treatment teams are extensive and managing this illness is a full time job in itself. It's taking both of us to help her on a daily basis.
Libby suffers from hallucinations that are visual, tactile, and auditory, meaning she sees things, feels things, and hears things that aren't real and can't tell the difference between reality and her hallucinations. She also suffers from paranoia, which means she believes people, even family members and medical providers, are going to harm her. Unfortunately, this means that she believes that people who aren't real are going to kill her. At times she thinks we hate her, are lying to her, or are going to kill her. She suffers from severe delusions, which are beliefs that despite evidence they're wrong, she still believes. She regularly says she hates her life and wants to die. All of these symptoms severely affect her life every day.
It's taken us 8 years to reach this point but the worst has been the last two years as we've struggled to understand and have sought treatment. She suffers regularly from psychosis, which is a short term loss of contact with reality. That means she cannot distinguish between her hallucinations and reality and becomes lost to the horrible hallucinations she suffers from. During periods of severe psychosis she has to be hospitalized. She spent over 120 days inpatient for treatment in 2018. This diagnosis is lifelong and requires consistent treatment to manage. She receives some social security disability and Medicaid but it's not nearly enough to cover the costs.
In addition, in 2018, my husband who was her full time caregiver while I worked multiple jobs to take care of us, became ill and disabled. He now walks with a cane and suffers from non-epileptic seizures which means he can no longer drive. They are caused by his nervous and immune systems attacking itself. We are actively working on a solution. My son has autism and struggles with depression. In October 2018, due to multiple medical crises, I lost my job and cannot collect unemployment. We're in about as dire of a financial situation as we can be as I look for a job, resources, and struggle to maintain my real estate business. In essence I am everything to three disabled individuals and am disabled myself with PTSD. The last year has taken its toll but still I fight to work and support us.
I'm the type of person who tries not to ask others for help. But when it comes to my child, I'll do whatever it takes. So I'm here asking for help, even though it hurts so much to have to do so. We realized we cannot do this alone.
I realize some people may not believe or understand this situation, especially with what happened recently on GoFundMe where people were scammed (and reimbursed by GoFundMe). That's fine. I can't possibly explain all the aspects of this situation in a single post. What I can tell you with absolute certainty is that no matter what, I'm in a battle to save my child's life. At the end of the day, that's what's at stake. Because all it will take is one time that I miss a sign and she actually kills herself. She's currently homeschooled because she cannot function in a traditional school setting. At some point in the near future, enter into puberty. The therapist has already warned me this is the tip of the iceberg - once she hits puberty, all of this gets so much worse.
I've tried to hit the most important facts of the situation (and I hope there's not a word limit to this post). If you have a question or concern, please comment and I will do my best to respond to it when I'm able. I will also post updates as I can. If you're not able to give money but can share our story, that's appreciated just as much. Thank you for taking the time to read, if nothing else.
Organizer
Charity Marie
Organizer
Temple, TX
