GETTING THE PROPER HELP: AREA PARENTS STRUGGLE WITH FINDING HELP FOR THEIR MENTALLY-ILL CHILDREN

Laura Huey of Cape Girardeau believes that God has given her a mission to turn her son's death into something that can benefit other children.

Huey's 7-year-old son, Clayton, was killed last year after being hit by a vehicle while trying to cross Broadway to get to Capaha Park. He had wanted to practice T-ball alone at the park.

Huey has organized a walkathon to benefit Severely Emotionally Disturbed (SED) children in Missouri. Clayton suffered from mental illness.

The walkathon is planned on May 2, the one-year anniversary of Clayton's death. It will be part of kick-off events for Children's Mental Health Week, May 3-9. The money raised from the walkathon will be designated for a scholarship fund to help other parents of SED children in Missouri attend training seminars.

The Missouri Statewide Parent Advisory Network (MO-SPAN), for which Lisa Huey serves as an honorary board member, announced recently that the kick-off event, normally held in Jefferson City, will be moved to Cape Girardeau this year to honor the memory of Clayton Huey.

Clayton was scheduled to leave for Jefferson City on the day of his death to present the second Missouri Child of the Year award. He had been the first recipient of the award in 1996.

In addition to the walkathon, the scheduled events include a training seminar for parents and an awards ceremony in which the Child, Parent and Professional of the Year awards will be presented. The awards honor those who are directly affected by or support SED issues.

Clayton was one of many children who suffer from mental illness. More than 7 million children and adolescents suffer from diagnosable mental disorders, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). A 1990 NIMH study showed that people under 20 are in the peak range for developing depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias and substance-abuse disorders.

The Hueys noticed early in his life that Clayton acted very much different than his brothers. At 3, Clayton was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (AHDC) and put on medication.

"He did everything to an extreme and had to be watched constantly," Lisa Huey said.

When he was 5 years old, Clayton climbed on a swing set with a rope around his neck and jumped off. By 7, he was climbing to the top of 60-foot pine trees.

He had boundless energy, like he was "bouncing off walls," Laura Huey said. He would talk so fast that he couldn't be understood. He would ride his tricycle too fast, crashing it into the basketball goal or his brother without a second thought. In those times, he was extremely happy and very impulsive.

But at other times, he would bottom out, being gripped by depression so deep that he would crawl into the corner of his bed and cry, she said.

Even by age 5, Clayton was telling his mother that he wasn't sure he could handle it any more. He wasn't sure that he could go on.

By the time Clayton was 7 years old, his parents were sure that his illness went beyond AHDC. They believed that he was suffering from manic-depression or bipolar disorder, an illness characterized by alternating feelings of extreme well-being and extreme depression.

Still, the mental health professionals to whom the Hueys took their son were unwilling to diagnose Clayton as manic-depressive until he was older.

Instead, a child psychiatrist diagnosed Clayton as suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and prescribed Luvox, an antidepressant. Within a couple of weeks of taking the medication, Clayton's parents noticed a marked change.

"Luvox did some wonderful things for our Clayton, but I realize now that he had been misdiagnosed," Lisa Huey wrote after her son's death.

"Clayton was bipolar and the Luvox had sent him into a full blown manic state. He felt he could do anything, including crossing the busiest street in Cape Girardeau to get to our city park to play baseball in the dark," she said.

A self-described advocate for children's rights, Lisa Huey said that it is often a struggle with professionals to get severely emotionally disturbed children the services they need.

Huey believes that events marking Children's Mental Health Week will help parents in their struggles to get help for their children.

For more information about the walkathon call 339-1254 or MO-SPAN at (314) 972-0600.