Jani is seven years old. She is a very bright (IQ of 146) little girl with a headful of tangled curls and endless energy. She is also a severe schizophrenic. She lives in the world of Calalini, a world she says that is the border between her world and ours. She has over two hundred imaginary friends; 200 the rat, Magical 61 the cat, two little girls named 100 degrees and 24 hours and 400 the cat, are just a few of the many that inhabit her realm. Doctors say that only one per cent of Americans suffer from schizophrenia and most become ill in their teenage years with one in ten ending in suicide. Jani's case is one of the most severe and the most rare; a child born with schizophrenia. There is only one other case of a child being diagnosed with schizophrenia so young, at age six. Jani suffers from hallucinations, delusions and rages so severe that even her own parents are frightened of her. She is on enough medication to topple an adult and yet even the heavy cocktail of drugs she takes to help control her disease, barely seem to touch it.
Because Jani is prone to violence and has kicked and bitten her baby brother, her parents have two apartments they can barely afford and care for Jani in shifts. Susan, a former radio traffic reporter and Michael, a college English instructor, try to figure out how to protect their eighteen month old son and provide as much stability as possible for their devastatingly ill daughter. Recently, Jani was on Oprah but the interview did not go well and Oprah's frustration was evident as she tried to interview Jani amidst Jani's violent protests that she did not want to talk!
Unless someone steps in and helps this poor family, the outlook will only get bleaker. Schizophrenia is a progressive disease which means as sick as Jani is, she will only get sicker. And what then? Will she be hospitalized to live her life out institutionalized? Doctors are at loss on how to help Jani. If she were in her teens, there might be a hope of finding a way to control her psychotic behavior, but she is only a little girl who was unlucky enough to be born with one of the most devastating of diseases. There are simply no resources to care for a child so young with such a serious mental disorder. Jani's father worries the heavy doses of medication will kill his daughter but if she doesn't take the drugs prescribed, she might kill herself. And her parents have begun to lose hope.
Who will come forward to help Jani? Oprah has championed many charities and causes. Why can't Jani not be one of them? And as my son Josh has said, "Why can't doctors study Jani's brain not only to help her but to also help the thousands of people who suffer just like her?" And my question to my son was,"Why can't someone start a website to raise money for Jani's care?" But even with unlimited funds, there is no cure for this disease. No magic pill to make it go away and no special place Jani can go that will be the ultimate answer. My heart aches for this family, for this little girl and I want to help so I will be building a website. I will let you all know when it is up and ready. Until then, please pray for Jani and her family because as it looks right now, it's up to God.
Until next time...
Love and Light to All,
LadiofZen
For the full story of Jani and her family go to http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-schizophrenia29-2009jun29,0,5289139,full.story
I think she need someone she could rely on and treat her like she's normal, and will never betray her, not how some look at her as some psychopath who needs to be put down, its truly terrifying knowin a girl only a few years younger than me has worst sightings during the day that my twisted every-night nightmares, if only she had someone that's a kid like her she could rely on...could help her cope. >.<
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