I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I do presentations with the local Schizophrenia Society chapter, and I’ll never forget this one high school I attended.  Honestly, I doubt I’ll forget most places I’ve been because of the worth I feel when visiting these locations, but this stood out for me.
A young girl came up to me after class (about 16 or 17), who wanted to speak with me specifically. Â She told me how she was showing early signs of schizophrenia and how she was terrified of the illness. Â She had heard stories, read tales, and watched things happening in the news and other media about people with schizophrenia, and was already self-stigmatizing herself over it. Â Her family was doing all they could to help her, but the classic isolation was boring into her psyche. Â She saw the stats on homelessness, incarceration, and suicide, and it was like watching a train-wreck in slow motion.
She said until she met me. Â She had never met someone with schizophrenia before; only saw them in the tragic states of on the street, in a headline, or lost in the ward. Â I became someones hope.
Have you ever wanted to hug someone so tight, telling them it can be frightening, but once you get past that fear it will make you strong; it will make you proud. Â I almost cried.
I was no longer the stereotype society had portrayed us to be.  I was the possibility of hope to a once scared soul. That through all the adversity, we can succeed and can be loved and will not be feared.  I gave someone hope that day, and she proved why I fight for those with the illness; because I know it.  I don’t want her to go through everything I did to reach the point I am at today; I will do everything in my power to stop that from happening till my dying day, not just for those with schizophrenia, but all mental illnesses.
One young girl who approached me with no fear changed it all for me.  Truly, she’s my hero.