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Parenting a child with a schizophrenia disorder comes with enormous sacrifices.

Some of those sacrifices may involve your career, family neglect, and even divorce.

The reward of seeing a loved one thrive with their disorder can offset these negative effects.

This is Part 2 of a series. Read Part 1 here.

This is the second part of an interview I had with my father, who was my sole caregiver while I experienced the worst days of my diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder in my teens and early 20s. It is his help and sacrifices that allowed me to live a fully functioning life with the full range of joy, adventure, and failure, in addition to my own pain. I now have two master’s degrees, enjoy exploring the city of New York where I live, have owned two dogs, and work as a writer and photographer.

This part of the interview details the deep sacrifices my father and my family had to make to ensure I led as “normal” a life as I could. If you’ve wondered what it takes to help a family member living with a schizophrenia disorder, his perspective may help.

Jim Myers is a father and sibling of three family members who lived and live with a schizophrenia disorder. He has been my mental health advocate for 20 years. He often told me that his childhood experience with his siblings prepared him for caring for an adult child with the same illness. Professionally, he has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, worked as the director of engineering at a small company making security cameras, and loves the outdoors, animals, and instilling a sense of childlike joy in his children. He is now retired and enjoys simple things like sitting on the backyard patio with the cats and playing handball with his friends. This is some of his wisdom.

Q: Many people may look at schizophrenia advocates and see their individual success story. But what is often not shown is the suffering and sacrifices that made that possible. What have you, as the parent, sacrificed, and what motivated you to make the sacrifices that you did?

A: Sacrifices are mainly time, money, and mental stability. A great........

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