Rosemarie Carew, whose parents were born in Ireland, has been "on the wards" since she was 23 years old, a classic case of revolving-door syndrome. Now 39, married for 21 years, with one 20year-old son, she's hasn't been hospitalised for a year. For Rosemarie, to achieve such a long-lasting state of health has been an incredible accomplishment but it is also testimony to the success of Anam Cara, an innovative support programme in north Birmingham developed by and catering to many people of Irish descent.
"Hospitals are sterile places where everything revolves around the tea trolley, the drug trolley and the mail trolley," says Rosemarie, who was abused as a child, suffered from food phobia and depression and has made several suicide attempts, including sitting on a dual carriageway trying to be run down. Her ever-supportive husband, John, never knew what he would find when he came home in the evening.
"My way of dealing with my problems was to climb into bed with a bottle of vodka," says Rosemarie. "I didn't want to live, didn't want to die, I only wanted to get out of this painful process."
John says: "If Rose had got help from a place like Anam Cara before, life would have been much better."
Now a recovery guide at Anam Cara, Rosemarie was recently diagnosed with the early symptoms of Huntington's disease, from which her father suffered and died. Huntington's has a 50/50 inheritance pattern and Rosemarie fears her son could have the disease. Yet despite this traumatic news, Rosemarie has not crawled into bed with a bottle of vodka.
"Huntington's is a very nasty illness - like having a breakdown. This house has helped me to stay on an even keel one day at a time.
It has saved my life on at least six occasions. Five times I've said to Rob: `I'm going out to buy a bottle of vodka'. And he's said: `If you start drinking again, you're out of this house. And this house will last longer than a bottle of vodka'. Without Anam Cara, I'd be drunk now."
Rosemarie has learned not to look too far into the future and to live for the moment. John says he has had to learn to stop feeling so responsible for Rosemarie and "let go through love". The result is that the two are enjoying life at the moment.
"I really couldn't say how I cope because I don't know. People are always telling me I'm a strong person but I don't see that. I've had to fight for everything I've got," says Rosemarie.