“I try not to give my illness any ownership over me”
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Transcript for file: 140410zachanddeborahmedlyn.mp3
00:00:00
when I first looked at you when all the other babies wear on the way
Nursery you were still wide awake you are very um
Q & I could just remember saying all
can I take me from one end of the spectrum to the other not real
realizing how that predictable
that was going to be what is your mental illness
00:00:30
Eminem not going to find myself and I what do the voices
where is it a lot of positive things to tell me
the world of a bar clips is coming to town
144 chosen from a child is this real and umm the temperature
current president of the Antichrist and I play some small role in the
the world affairs stories come they are the most 79 to tell me jokes really
really funny jokes that I can never make up and take me on cosmic
00:01:05
is the time and space I have not even left my room what’s the biggest
is lesson you learned since being diagnosed in Houston the greatest help for you long way
the fact that I can make it through this if I can quit smoking cigarettes I can do anything
things like grasshoppers frozen the church and my mom
what church because my spirituality is really tied the violinist
does you give it ownership over us
you so fine and I trying to get Phione the city on a ship
00:01:40
how does government on a straight talk to other people about me
pins and sometimes I will just say that the people say what is your sign
home and sometimes you say handsome problems
another times if im feeling more comfortable a sign that you have a mental health
mental illness recently its been easier to say your
sundry open about it because aqua proud of you
where are we now because you put up with his standing
00:02:15
what have been the happiest saddest moments of your life since I’ve been diagnosed
watching you walk to work a hospital mental ward
preview worth
the greatest moments
Haband does days when the medication
allows you to be more like yourself with your humor your love
00:02:50
box your love of movies your ability to have conversation
when is the greatest day of my life with coming home
can you run the porch in Houston
I want to go to the store and get a book because sac
what do you want
sac there is hope there’s a bright shining lie
into the dark tunnel at the hang on help is on the way
00:03:25
covers possible I’m proud of me do you need to ask a decimal
Burberry proud of you use confetti
can you take the high road thank you for breathing
Zach Medlyn of Champaign was 20 years old when he started hearing the voices. That was about seven years ago when he was a student at the University of Illinois. He started showing signs of depression when he was 18 and was diagnosed with schizophrenia during college.
Over the last few years, he says he’s talked with gods, demons, angels, and ghosts, and has had visits from extraterrestrials. His mom, Debra, says caring for Zach and helping him cope with his illness hasn’t been easy. She drives her son to St. Louis every few months to see the psychiatrist who manages his medication. She says she started looking in major cities for a doctor because the wait times in Champaign-Urbana were too long.
Zach and Debra interviewed each other about living with Zach’s mental illness as a part of our series “Unmet Needs: Living with mental illness in central Illinois.”
Starting this week on WILL AM580, you can hear our series about living with mental illness in central Illinois on Thursdays at 6:40 and 8:40 during Morning Edition and at 12:40 during Here and Now.