My Mum Marie died as a result of 'side effects' of Personality Disorder.  Most of her life, she didn't know she suffered from this illness, but in later life, in diagnosis, she hated the term.  

As a 'side effect' of PD and the slow dawning of her diminishing ability to control her life as an aging member of society (read: lonely, dejected, depressed, aching, sore, in pain, lost), she took control in a way that not many would, and took her own life.

Mum’s Personality Disorder made it difficult to communicate and interact well with society, leaving her often without support from friends and even family at times. And with her only option for the future to ‘disintegrate before our eyes’, she chose to refuse that option.

In life, Personality Disorder did not define her though.  She was vibrant, dramatic, creative and wielded a razor-sharp intellect.  A Masters alumni from the University of Essex, she was memorable also for her acting, directing and playwriting; her style and flair at interior design; her colourful and poetic creative writing and later in life, her stunning paintings.

She may’ve found motherhood a rough ride, but in grandmotherhood she excelled and took immense joy in spending time with her grandson Oscar who loved her deeply from the start.

Her PD certainly made things very difficult for her, but if a charity such as Mind had been able to help years ago as they do now, things could have been very different and some of her pain could’ve been eased.

I was going to drive anyway, but now, I'm driving for HER.  I did what I could, I bust my gut to help her, but it never helped.  Now, I'll drive, with the help and support of Oscar, now 10, and my partner Andrew who’s in charge of the backup/rescue van following close behind us.  We leave the UK on the 23rd June and come back on the 7th July 2013.

Please donate to Mind. If Mum had accepted her diagnosis, maybe Mind could've helped her, maybe with more funding, they could get out to find others suffering out there without help...  

Hope so.

 

UPDATE: If you'd like to keep track of our progress across Europe between 23rd June 2013 to 7th July 2013, like this Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/126toSlovakia and we'll be updating our progress, photos and other eventfulness of the journey!