(Oct. 31, 2016) In September 2014, Anthony and Cynthia Hernandez’s beloved son Aaron violently attacked them during the night while in a psychotic episode. Aaron believed voices that told him they had to die.
Previously, the Hernandez’s had Aaron hospitalized eight times in two years for serious mental illness. Each time he was released immediately without becoming stabilized. The Hernandez felt helpless to get Aaron the care he desperately needed because Aaron didn’t believe he was sick.
Hernandez recalls, “My son, the boy I raised with all my love, all my heart, was very sick. How had this awful disease convinced Aaron that he didn’t need help? I remember when he was a little boy, how I would do anything to make his troubles go away. Now I was at a loss — there was nothing I could do to get my son the help he needed.”
Getting Help, Giving Hope
After the attack, Aaron finally received medical help. The prosecutor, judge and public defender all recognized that he needed treatment and allowed him to plead guilty for the attack by reason of insanity. Aaron was sent to a state psychiatric hospital for long-term treatment.
With Aaron on the way to wellness, the Hernandez’s efforts broadened. They formed Transforming Treatable Tragedies, an organization that advocates for legal reform for patients too sick to get help by themselves. With a dearth of inpatient hospitals beds, and laws that require a standard of dangerousness be met before treatment can begin, the Hernandez’s know the only way to make sure this doesn’t happen in another family is by pressing mental health reform.
“My hope is that by raising my voice along with theirs, other families will be able to help their loved ones in the way that I couldn’t help Aaron,” Anthony says.
With a change.org petition, the Hernandezs have gathered the names of thousands of families who also want reform. The names appear on a banner that the Hernandez family hopes to bring to the US Senate when reform measures come up for vote.
A Path to Health
Aaron’s symptoms of psychosis are under control, and Anthony and Cynthia have their son back for the first time in years. Anthony says, “My son that I raised is back, his mind is sound and his thoughts are clear. I am experiencing a blessing that I had prayed for all of these years.”
The Hernandez family is unwavering in their support of their son, and in creating change for the countless families not as lucky as they have been. They know that untreated mental illness impacts all aspects of our society — criminal justice, healthcare, homelessness, and civil rights. They realize that quality psychiatric care, starting with enough inpatient beds to fill the need, is the humane answer for many.
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