Thirteen days after walking away from her adult day care program, my daughter was found as she wandered out of the woods not far from where she went missing. She'd never been more than two miles from town the whole time. Someone saw her and recognized her as the missing woman. She was taken to the hospital in Fort Thomas...about an hour away. She was dehydrated to the point that her kidneys were shutting down. She will be here until Monday at least.
Sarah says she left after a disagreement with someone. She felt that the whole town was screaming at her to go away and die. She walked through some woods and crossed the river (which is very possible...it is way down). She became lost in woods on the other side. She became convinced that the world had ended and she was the only one left alive. So she gave up.
Can you imagine being so psychotic and hallucinating and lost in the woods? She could find some water but no food. When she finally decided to try to save herself she was almost too weak to walk. Thank God she decided to try. The search teams had been very close to her...she heard people calling her name but thought it wasn't real. We were so close and missed her....it will take a while to forgive myself for that.
The director of her group home told me he didn't believe her...that she couldn't have survived out there that long. He thinks she's lying to protect whoever she was with. But I'm inclined to think it's true. I've never seen anyone so dirty. Her neck was green...it looked like mold beginning to grow. She was wearing the clothes she went missing in and they are in tatters. Her hair was one dreadlock with sticks and burrs...and she was dehydrated to the point of death. She told me that she's learned how easy it can be to die. She said she'd abandoned her things at some point. So why did her messenger show activity on Monday? A mystery...
I'm going to go try to find her things soon...to get to the bottom of what happened. Right now I'm just being here with her. The rest will sort itself out. I am so sad...so infinitely sad....at what our sick loved ones have to bear. Sarah's life has been an unbelievable horror...and the torment in her mind is even worse. We, as a society, are failing them so badly.
Photo Credit: Joann Strunk
Sarah