Hope

Something very important is going on today in Raleigh - the 20th annual Thad and Alice Eure Walk for Hope. It's a fundraising event for the Foundation of Hope, a local organization aimed at Mental Health research, awareness, and treatment.

You know I rarely (if ever) make requests like this on the blog, but, I highly encourage everyone to donate.

It's tax deductible, it's good for your karma, and it directly funds research at Big Hospital and State Hospital, as well as treatment for those who need it most. If you want a walker code specific to our department, email me and I will be happy to provide it. Even $5 can make a big difference.

No one lives a life untouched by mental illness - if you personally have never struggled with a mood or thought disorder, then you have a family member, a friend, a loved one who knows its trials. If there's one thing I've learned over the past year, it's that we all live one step away from madness. Mental illness can manifest as a life-clouding depression, a paralyzing anxiety, or terrifying descent into psychosis. It can rob you of your memory as a dementia or make that memory untenable in PTSD. It knows no class, no color, no gender, family, profession or station.

But there's no such thing as false hope.