The Gift of Giving

The true story of Barbara Ann Day Wests life as told by her mother, Mary Day Schaefer. Barbara was born in Brooklyn, NY; the first of 4 children for Jerome and Mary Day. Barbara was the light of her parents life. She was very giving to others and was an honors student before attending Arizona States Law School where her life would take a tragic turn for the worst. Barbaras dreams of becoming a legal advocate for the poor and donating her time to provide them legal support would be lost in a quick spiral of declining mental health that left Barbara a paranoid schizophrenic and more vulnerable than the people she had hoped to help. Marys struggles to be Barbaras advocate and navigate the harsh realities of an under-funded Arizona state mental health system are chronicled in detail. In one of Barbaras rare lucid moments after decades of being mentally ill, she stated that the hardest thing was that she was seldom treated with any dignity or respect.