Deborah Jardine has created a website in her
daughter's memory. The following is part of her story taken
from Vanished Voices (
www.vanishedvoices.com)
Angela was my first pregnancy and I decided to
have her by natural childbirth. The delivery was very quick and
went without any problems, or so I thought. The strange thing is I
heard no crying, only sounds of silence. I recall the nurses
rushing off with Angela from the delivery room with my family
doctor close behind. The nurses assured me nothing was wrong and
the baby was fine. She assured me it was slight congestion in the
lungs that needed to be cleared out.
To this day I feel something went terribly wrong
with the delivery or possibly Angela did not receive enough air
during those crucial moments of entering the world.
When Angela was around three years old she began
acting very strange. She would get up in the middle of the night
and I would often find her in the kitchen. Sometimes she would take
her small chair and would climb onto it and reach into the kitchen
cupboards grabbing at dishes. She would slowly drop each cup or
plate watching them break one at a time. We never knew what
prompted these bizarre events.
By the time Angela was four or five years old her
speech was still very slow and her words were unintelligible at
times. We continued seeking help for Angela. She was not allowed to
attend a regular school after Grade 2 because of her outbursts that
would disrupt classes.
Our family physician referred Angela to the
Algoma Sanatorium in Sudbury when she was seven. She was evaluated,
assessed, and psychological and developmental tests were conducted.
Her academic level for math, spelling and reading was at a Grade 2
level.
Over the years Angela was a guinea pig for
medications to control her behaviour problems. The pediatrician put
her on Ritalin when she was eight. From there on it was an
assortment of medications. Angela was put on Haldol and many other
drugs to calm her. Angela hated taking medications and I hated
watching my daughter become a walking zombie.
By the time Angela was 15 more testing was
conducted. We were informed Angela's intellect would always
be around an 11-year-old level and she may have personality
disorders...
Late summer of 1990 Angela arrived in Vancouver.
She met a fellow claiming he was entirely devoted to Angela. She
was head over heels in love with him. We later found out this man
had been giving Angela hard drugs and selling her on the
streets...
