Families can have lifelong struggle with mental health care

Aug. 17--BLOOMINGTON -- Robin Landry worried constantly that one day her son's mental illness would get the best of him.

That day came June 14 with a knock on the door from the McLean County Coroner's office with news that her only child, Aaron Peacher, was dead. The 23-year-old had wrapped a sheet around his neck and hung himself in a Bloomington motel room.

"I was shocked, but not surprised. What else could it be?" Landry said.

The weeks leading up to the suicide were difficult ones for the young man who had a history of harming himself.

Earlier in June, he was in McLean County jail on drug charges when he bit his arm so severely, the wound required 10 stitches and a stay in the intensive care unit.

According to a jail report, Peacher told officers he thought he could bite through his arm.

Mentally ill adults like Peacher rely heavily on family members and case workers to remain stable, but sometimes it is not enough.

His struggles with mental illness started around age 14 when his mother noticed changes in his grades and behavior. Counseling and medications helped, but life was never easy, she said.

"He opened up to a counselor and said he was hearing voices. We knew that wasn't just teenage angst," she said.

The family had health insurance, but the hospital coverage didn't allow him to stay as long as he needed. There were other hospital stays and a stint at a Utah academy for youths with behavioral problems.

"He seemed to improve, but in the spring of his senior year, he dropped out," said his mom. Over the summer, he finished the one remaining class he needed to graduate.

Threatened by the outbursts that were sometimes part of her son's condition, Robin Landry stayed in contact with him, but he lived at Home Sweet Home Mission in Bloomington until he started at Lincoln College, studying library science.

Just six credits short of graduation, Aaron relapsed in January 2011. Over the next two years, he was hospitalized and drifted in and out of his mother's life.

Disruption

When mentally ill adults are stable, life is less disruptive for their families, too.

Sue Spivey checks in with her 42-year-old son, Randy Reeser, several times a week. He has a new apartment in Bloomington, his fourth home in eight years. Reeser is on probation with the McLean County Recovery Court for defendants whose mental illness plays a significant role in their criminal behavior.

For Randy, the oldest of Spivey's three children, signs of mental illness started at age 5 with problem behavior. He was hospitalized at 17 and later diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Spivey worries whether her son is following probation rules and taking his medication -- two lifelines to independence and freedom -- and thinks more help is needed to help mentally ill adults.

"Randy is in our community. If we had more services and housing, he and whole lot of other people would do better," she said.

Recently, her son's medication was changed and his mother said he has experienced some problems, but she has no say in the matter because he is an adult.

In a recent interview, Randy said he prefers being in control of his medication. "I'm not a pill popper," he said.

Housing also is on Kim Lanham's mind.

Her stress is most intense when she considers where her 22-year-old son will live when she can no longer care for him. Diagnosed in 2000 with epilepsy and recently with bipolar disorder, Scott Lanham is home bound except for occasional doctor visits.

"He could be independent if he was well enough to care for himself. He's going to need a group home if something happens to me. I don't want him thrown in a nursing home and forget about him," she said.

The medication her son takes for his disorders must be carefully monitored for any negative interactions. The consequences of a mental health crisis can be frightening, said his mother.

"Once he tried to take a knife and cut his throat. When he's aggressive he's really strong," she said.

When she is unable to handle her son's aggression, she calls Bloomington police who've taken him to the hospital for mental health care.

The police also had been involved in Aaron Peacher's life. His final downward spiral started in May when his mother received a package containing drugs at her home. She turned them over to Normal police who later arrested Aaron on drug charges.

Landry was working with a court-appointed attorney on an involuntary commitment for Aaron when she learned he'd been released on a personal recognizance bond on the drug charges.

"He came home and packed up his room. He was glassy-eyed and asked me to take him to the motel. I had a bad feeling about it, but I didn't know what to do," she said.

After his death, memorials collected on Aaron's behalf went to Home Sweet Home and the Alliance on Mental Illness.

More support groups would help more families, said Landry, adding the counseling and housing her son received at the mission were invaluable.

"I think we had Aaron with us longer because of Home Sweet Home," she said.

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