Joanne Hoemberg: Laura’s Law could have saved my grandson
This past March, I lost my grandson because of a lack of understanding and help for the mentally ill. He was 22 years old and took his own life after suffering with schizo effective disorder for 6 years. He had been living in Modesto for the past year and a half. Had Laura's Law been in effect, we could have stepped in and gotten help for him. As it is, our hands were tied, and we watched this beautiful, wonderful kid suffer because he wasn't in his right mind and couldn't understand what needed to be done. He saw visions, heard voices, was at times catatonic, and usually was totally out of touch with this world, unless he was on his meds which he usually refused. We tried everything that we could, but the laws aren't on our side. The saddest thing is that he was extremely bright, sweet, talented, and loving, and he had so much to offer the world if only he could have gotten the help that he needed. I urge the board of supervisors to enact this law soon.
Joanne Hoemberg, Fremont
This story was originally published June 27, 2017 at 11:58 AM with the headline "Joanne Hoemberg: Laura’s Law could have saved my grandson."