It was a day I'll never forget January 31, 2005, when my son, Vince, who was 25, had a psychotic break with reality and became ill. My experience with mental illness was not great but I did have a long time friend with an illness and I was thankful I knew a little bit about it. I thank God Vince was willing to come to the Douglas Hospital, at which point after a long agonizing wait in ER, he was asked if he would like to stay. I'll always remember his words "Mom, I'm going to stay and chill out". I was so grateful he was agreeable and so the journey of healing began.

It was a time to explore this sometimes very unkind sickness. I tried to find out as much as I could about mental illness by going to workshops and talking to doctors and nurses.

I have had cancer twice but this illness was far more devastating than I could have imagined. It is so much more difficult to watch your son suffer silently through this.

I am married to Lou and have two other sons, one who is older than Vince and one who is younger. As a family, we all had such a hard time coping with this unknown illness.

In my search, I found quite a few resources - one being AMI-Quebec where we met wonderful dedicated people - one being Mike Santoro who was an inspiration of hope to us.

Today as I sit and write this on a beautiful sunny day in 2009 – yesterday we went and heard and saw Mike's Presentation of The 80/20 Project. This presentation was held at the Douglas Hospital before a whole auditorium in which he talked about living and recovering with a mental illness.

After this presentation, entertainment was provided and one of the artists was my very own son, Vince, who played two of his own compositions on the banjo. As I watched and cheered, I had tears of joy, that yes, it is a long road but it is filled with love and hope.

LET US NEVER GIVE UP!!!

Ann Antenucci
Written June 11, 2009