Why I’m Doing This

I have always been the type of person to help people when I can, the best I can. Usually it was by listening when they needed someone to talk to or providing food and shelter if they had no where else to go. I’ve never been able to help people out much financially, so I help in other ways. But my journey to help people with mental illnesses, to help stop the stigma that is involved with them, all started with someone very very special to me; my husband.

I met my husband through an app online on February 26, 2018. We started talking through this app, then eventually started to talk through email. I fell in love with him. Then we eventually started talking through a messaging app. I learned, when we first started talking, that he had Asperger’s and suffered from severe depression and anxiety. I learned about his past, and what happened to him as he was growing up. My heart broke for him. I seen him go through many depressive episodes. My heart broke for him even more. On August 7, 2018, we became a couple. He sent me voice messages through the messaging app, and we eventually started video chatting. I’ve heard and seen him cry tears over things that he should have never went through, things that he should not have ever cried tears for, things that never should have happened to him. My heart broke for him more.

He lives in Brazil, I live in the USA. In Brazil, mental illnesses aren’t really recognized, they are seen as a weakness. Many believe that depression isn’t real. Asperger’s isn’t really recognized there either. Most of his family doesn’t believe he has any conditions. My heart broke for him even more. On June 12, 2019, he asked me to marry him. June 15, 2019, we got “virtually married.” There’s so much stigma involved with mental illnesses, not only in Brazil, but in many many countries.

My heart still breaks for him constantly. So I decided to help spread the word about mental illnesses and Asperger’s and stop the stigma that’s involved with them. So not only am I doing this because of my husband, but I am doing it for him, so this blog is dedicated to Marcos Burian.