Season ends for Hawks page 32
Two more dead on Colebrook Road page 3
Thursday March 14, 2013
Serving Surrey and North Delta www.surreyleader.com
Equal opportunity destroyer A son from a wealthy Delta family and a daughter from a difficult Whalley background both fall victim to a system that is failing society’s most vulnerable citizens: the mentally ill Stories by Kevin Diakiw
thrown into the roles of social workers and counsellors as Delta father is the mentally ill fall through worried about his large gaps in the system. son, who – sufferService providers in Surrey ing from schizo- say they are inundated with phrenia – has fallen into drug people in desperate need of addiction, which in turn has support – not surprising in seen him repeatedly thrown light of statistics from the in jail. Centre for Addiction and In fact, over the last four Mental Health that show years, 30-year-old Brian Bylo one in five Canadians will be has been to jail 30 times. diagnosed with a mental illHe is not alone. It’s estiness in their lifetime, yet only mated about one in three one-third will receive the help people in Canadian jails are they need. suffering from Surrey Mayor mental illness. Dianne Watts Twenty per said the combicent of sufferers nation of men“self-medicate” tal illness and with alcohol or addiction is the illicit drugs. most important That’s the challenge facing route taken by the city. Whalley’s Janice “Bar none, Shore, a woman it’s the numberwith bipolar one issue,” disorder and Watts said. “If schizophrenia you are ever who panhandled going to have to pay for her significant drug addiction reductions in and frequently crime, then relied on North you have to A Leader special Surrey charities deal with the series examines to survive. addictions and the shattering She died in mental health effects of February after issue.” being badly Over the mental illness beaten last coming weeks, December. The Leader Those with mental illness will explore the challenges of often end up on the streets, caring for these vulnerable behind bars, or in hospital citizens and the possible ways ERs. Increasingly, front-line to better support those who emergency responders are are the hardest to help.
A
PHOTO SUBMITTED
As a teenager, Brian Bylo was a happy Holy Cross High School student.
Life behind an inch of glass AFTER EMPTYING his pockets, and having his ID heavily scru-
tinized, a successful private investment banker walks down a long corridor to a small viewing room inside the Fraser Valley Regional Correctional Facility. Through heavily scratched glass, he sees his son Brian in an orange jumpsuit, sitting passively and completely devoid of emotion – characteristics of his mental heath disorder.
See BRIAN / Page 11
HARD to HELP
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Janice Shore was 18 years old in this photo and had already been diagnosed with serious mental illness.
Gone, but not forgotten FOR YEARS she shadowed her older brother, living in fear she
would lose him – just like the others. Her life was ravaged by loss, starting with her father’s death when she was eight years old. Four years later, she had a baby, who died. Five years after that, her oldest brother Ken, a bipolar schizophrenic, disappeared. Another brother believes the “Fraser River has him.”
See JANICE / Page 12
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