peter
“I have a Schizoaffective disorder. This is not an illness that’ll just go away one day and I’ll be okay. They’ve taken me places before that I didn’t think I could make it back from. When I was in my twenties, my brother found me wandering around in a park about forty metres away from the house. I was walking, but unconscious and hallucinating from the amount of tablets I had taken. I remember I went down to buy alcohol as if to finish the job, but I didn’t make it to the shop. I was very lucky that my brother found me. They took me to A&E, and my sister and my father rushed to the hospital too, but they only saw me for a moment as I was being brought to have my stomach pumped. They said they tried to approach me but the nurse told them to wait. But then she stopped and said, ‘Wait! Come back, come back! My father said he knew that meant I may not make it. My heart actually stopped at one point. And I was dead for a few minutes. They had to use a defibrillator to bring me back. I only woke up a couple of days later, and when I saw my father the first thing I said was that I may have missed the dentist appointment I booked a week before. I didn’t even realize what I had been through. Only after the first few months of rehab everything started to fall into place. I was able to manage my mental health a bit better and I finally finished my first album. Later I met my girlfriend, and now I’m working on my second book. None of this would’ve happened if my life ended that day. I learnt the hard way that the possibility of what can happen is always going to be there if I don’t give up. This too will pass, and I know I’ll able to feel again.”
– You can learn more about his life as a talented musician and artist by checking out the latest HODCast interview.