A story in Atavist Magazine follows the plight of three moms in Colorado Springs who have fought the same invisible enemy: Their sons developed schizophrenia and the system couldn’t keep up. Mary Margaret Alvarado’s deeply reported piece centers on Tracy, whose gifted, queer son Ben cycled through diagnoses, street homelessness, and staggering medical bills before dying at 23; Elisabeth, a nurse practitioner who turns her professional skills on her son Luc’s sudden psychosis and battles doctors, insurers, and pharmacies to get him on a strict clozapine regimen that actually works; and Felicia, whose son Quentin’s break lands him in the crosshairs of police, ER staff, and a patchwork of hospitals and group homes that alternately stabilize and endanger him.
The story zooms in on the day-to-day reality—auditory hallucinations, anosognosia (not knowing you’re sick), Medicaid rules, insurance appeals, $18,000 ambulance tabs, the relentless hunt for medications and supportive services that barely exist. In short, it’s a daily battle of logistics just to try to keep their sons alive. Early symptoms are often dismissed or misread, diagnoses shift, and each new doctor means starting the story over. In the meantime, work hours shrink and savings thin out. The story also points out yet another wrinkle that makes things difficult: Privacy laws limit what parents can be told once their sons turn 18, even as those same sons may be too ill to manage their own care. Read the full piece.