Laurel Walker; Reaching Out in a Time of Pain; Son's Mental Illness Led Them to 25 Years of Helping Others

Summary

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Dorothy and Dick Wutt know all too well how tortuous it is to have a loved one in the grips of mental illness, how desperate the search can be for answers.

In 1981, as they drove their 21-year-old suicidal son, Phil, to the Waukesha County psychiatric hospital fearing for his life, he got out of the car intent on putting himself in front of a train. Fortunately, a police officer arrived and helped get him to what was then Northview Hospital.

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Extract

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Laurel Walker; Reaching Out in a Time of Pain; Son's Mental Illness Led Them to 25 Years of Helping Others

"It took me five years to go over that railroad track in Waukesha without getting a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach," Dorothy Wutt said. "It was awful."

Though Dorothy, now retired, was a nurse at the time -- Dick is a retired insurance claims adjuster -- she said she didn't fully understand the...

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