Mildred's Son & Timothy's Brother

 

We have been given a very special person to love.

We believe that Scott has been called by God

to share in the unique vocation of emotional

and mental suffering.

 

God has allowed him to be afflicted with

schizophrenia.  He took ill at seventeen years

of age and has been hospitalized for thirty-five

years.  The only medication that helped Scott

had to be discontinued due to life threatening

side effects. 

 

Today, he is still a very sick person.

 

He was gentle, sensitive, courteous and a

loving person. As he grew older, he became an

altar boy and a honor roll student.

 

It was his gentle courtesy and innocence

that made him so loved by others. 

At sixteen, he became sad, shy and fearful.

One day, he came to me and said,

"Mom, I want to talk to you...

I think I am going crazy, everyone downtown is

talking about me."

That was the beginning of hearing voices.

 

Scott's illness progressed to the point

where he could no longer communicate.

We knew then, that he could no longer

stay home;  we had to take him to the hospital

which was the state mental institution.

We transferred him by ambulance to the

psychiatric ward which was a short term facility

for 3 months at St. Elizabeth's Hospital,

Brighton, Massachusetts. 

From there, we took him to another

private psychiatric hospital named

McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts.

Then, six months later to yet, another named

New York Hospital in White Plains.

He was treated with dignity and respect as 

they tried to help him with different types of

medication and shock treatments.

 

We thought that if we got him to the right

doctor and the right hospital,

if we gave him right medication and treatment,

he would be okay.

Sadly to say, that was not true.

Back then, I was ignorant about mental illness.

 

Scott's illness had progressed and he had to

return to the same state hospital which was

primarily custodial care.

Three weeks later, suffering from distorted

thinking, Scott was seriously injured in a

scuffle over taking medication.

He was transferred to Bridgewater State

Hospital, a hospital for the criminally insane. 

Then our 13 year nightmare began.

 

                  

Timothy                          Scott

 

 Scott at Bridgewater State Hospital

 

For Scott, he lived with his own terror within

and lived terrified by his environment.

There was no segregation. It was over-

crowded and critically understaffed.

Also, the correctional officers had little if any

training in mental illness. 

Since the early 1900's the Dept of Mental

Health sent  their very sick mentally ill

patients to Bridgwater, a correctional facility.    

They were treated as criminals 

even though they had never committed any crime. 

They were  persons with the disease of mental illness. 

They were being held hostage

by a prison system.

 

It was a system that we were up against.

We were deprived of showing our love to Scott

because we could only bring him something

twice a year which was on his birthday and at

Christmas; not even a lifesaver could be given

on visiting day. It was humiliating for us to pass

through the metal detectors and to watch the officers search Scott.

We also knew of correctional officers who

taunted, teased and assaulted patients; we

also knew about patient to patient assault.

As in every system, there were good officers.

 

Our Advocacy 

 

We were involved in a class action suit with

three other families against the state.

And then, tragedy struck!

Five patients died in his unit under unusual

circumstances.  One was due to a toxic level

of Tylenol. Negligence played a part in the other

deaths.

The sons of the other families involved were

transferred out of Bridgewater.

Scott remained because he was too ill.

So, the suit became Scott Duff et al.

The most terrifying and most painful heartache

was when our lawyer told us that:

"it was written on the 'Hard Copy' of a record by

a correctional officer in the unit where Scott

was kept in seclusion for many years

"Good candidate for         

       Euthanasia ".

This to us was the Ultimate Rejection!

We sacrificed our privacy and anonymity to fight

this injustice; Mildred appeared on Nightline

with Ted Koppel.

 

Our Unexpected Visitor:

 

I received Our Lady of Fatima’s newsletter from

the Archdiocese of Boston that stated:

the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue

of Our Lady of Fatima, the miraculous image

was coming to their Archdiocese accompanied

by Her escort, Louis Kiszmarick.

It listed the towns where she was going.

As I saw the name Bridgewater,

goose bumps went all through me.  Why?  

I knew she was coming for Scott.

 

The Pilgrim Virgin's Statue

at Bridgwater State Hospital

 

In the parking lot we met Louis; Timothy

approached him as he was getting out of his

car.  He placed the statue of the Blessed Virgin

in Timothy's arms and said: "You carry her in

Tim". He then turned to Mildred and said:

"You carry her crown Mrs. Duff."

We thought our hearts would burst with joy

as we carried her in.  At that time, my mother

was holding a camera. I told her, "You will

never get that camera in the hospital."

She said to me, "Tim, they will never see it. 

Blessed Mother will blind there eyes."

We both chuckled as we went through the extra

sensitive dectectors, we placed the camera,

our car keys and the metal we had in our

possession in front of the officers.

They never saw the camera which was right in

front of their eyes.

A sign from Our Lady of Fatima

 

When we processed into Scott's room, he was

unable to communicate and could not tolerate

touch.  He had been solitarily confined for

many years. Louis explained who she was and

we began to pray the rosary for him.

Scott never took his eyes off her. He blessed

himself and prayed out loud a decade of the

rosary with us. He held Timothy's hand for the

first time in many years and quietly said,

"I Love You!"

The captain of the guards who took the pictures

for us asked if he could have a copy saying, 

"I have just seen a miracle. I have been with

Scott everyday for the past thirteen years.

And he was perfectly well all of the time the

Pilgrim Virgin was with him in his room."

After Blessed Mother's Image left, 

Scott returned to his previous condition.

His  class action suit was won.

Bills were passed by the Massacusetts

Legislature that would no longer permit

non-criminal mental patients to be sent to

Bridgewater State Hospital.

Conditions were improved at Bridgewater.

And monies were appropriated to construct

a new Department of Mental Health Facility

for the seriously ill mental patients like Scott.

We received the telephone call that said,

"Scott would be transferred on the 13th

of the month after thirteen years.

Our Interview on EWTN was held when we were just beginning.

Since then, we have grown and many changes have come.

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