Robin was my mentor. Not that I asked him to take on this role.
He simply gave of himself freely that way without having to be asked.
In 2005 when I started writing the Recovering Together column for SZ magazine I called up NAMI-New Jersey where he was on the board. I told the woman who answered that I was interested in having Robin be a featured panelist for the Q&A on hot topics in recovery. I gave her my telephone number.
Exactly one half-hour later Robin called and said Yes. I had been talking to him ever since 2005.
Robin Cunningham lived to be 77. He died in December 2019.
He lived to be 77 even though he took schizophrenia drugs for 64 years–ever since he was 13 years old and first diagnosed.
For the first 10 years he heard voices that the pills couldn’t quell.
His doctor tried every new medication that came on the market. Ten years later Etrafon stopped the voices.
Robin recommended me to his boss at HealthCentral. In 2007 she gave me a job as a Health Guide along with Robin at their schizophrenia website. I held that job until September 2015.
The exclamation point – ! – is that Robin didn’t die 25 years earlier like news accounts claim that people diagnosed with schizophrenia do.
Robin had a full and robust life. He had a daughter and a wife. He was full of kindness and compassion.
Robin obtained an MBA and rose up to be the CEO of a corporation.
He told me stories about his life which I soaked up. I was eager to learn how a person diagnosed with schizophrenia could do these things.
We talked on the telephone from time to time.
I installed his memoir on my iPad. You can buy Descent into Chaos on Amazon or special order it from a bookstore.
Robin’s life journey was a testament to having a never-broken spirt in the face of adversity.
In 2000 after retiring from his business career he was a pioneer in becoming an Advocate for his fellow peers.
Robin Hugh Cunningham is gone. He should not be forgotten.
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