This story is real. Names have been changed to protect the person who suffers with (mental illness). Linda tells the story about her son, Alan, who was on his way to a successful life, and was "robbed" by an illness that came within a year of the first severe symptoms. Yes, there were signs, but those signs did not necessarily mean mental illness. One should be careful when determining what different symptoms mean, and where they may lead. Linda wants to share her story, to get it out in the open. She looked for hope in different places, and it took her a long time to accept the illness as reality. Mental illness is still a dirty word, although medicine has brought it a long way, from where it was a few years ago. It is a subject that many find hard to discuss with anyone, for fear that people will not understand. This was true of Linda. She was picky who she shared with. Twenty plus years have changed many things. The doctors and facilities have gotten so much better, and many mentally ill people can live a normal life. There is hope.