It was like a shotgun going off in my face when a noted psychiatrist told me that my son will likely suffer the same fate as did my wife. Both my beloved wife, Debbie, of 23 years and my father-in-law committed suicide. He struggled with severe depression and in 1978 fatally overdosed on medications to escape his suffering. Then, sixteen years later, my wife Debbie succumbed to the same fate of suicide.
My wife lived with Bipolar Affective Disorder One with Rapid Cycling. One day, in 1994, she simply ended it. Her pain was unbearable. For me, it was like somebody took a chalkboard eraser and wiped out the most precious part of my life.
Overcoming Devastating Loss
My name is Tony Stephan, and this is the story of how my family overcame mental illness after devastating loss. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than seeing my wife suffer with mental illness until the symptoms started to emerge in my children.
My son Joseph, fifteen years old, and his older sister Autumn were diagnosed with the same illness - Bipolar Affective Disorder One with Rapid Cycling. Joseph was getting more violent and dangerous. He was on 750 to 900 milligrams of Lithium or Carbo-lith per day and he was just a lost soul. My daughter, Autumn, was equally lost and was constantly in and out of the psychiatric ward. Drugs didn’t work, she was on five psychiatric medications (Haldol, Rivitril, Epival, Ativan and Cogentin) and was out of control. Suicidal one minute, explosive the next and unable to care for herself or her family.
At this time, we sought assistance for Joseph from a noted psychiatrist. We went and met with the doctor, praying for answers and hope. Instead we got despair and heartbreaking news from a noted psychiatrist. She became upset with me and this noted psychiatrist, informed me, “Mr. Stephan you need a reality check. Don’t you see it? What you see is what you’ve got. He’s not going to get better.” This was not the answer or solution I was seeking. So, I started to pray. I started to fast. I started to search. I started to ask everyone, “Do you know anything about bipolar?” There just had to be an answer somewhere.
WAS THERE REALLY AN ANSWER OUT THERE?
One day it came. I was talking to a friend I was working with and telling him about how bad it was in our family with Joseph's and Autumn’s illnesses. He said that he didn't understand mental conditions, but he had spent twenty years in the agricultural industry. He said, “You know, I looked after hundreds of thousands of animals and we used to see in the hog pens that these animals would have this disorder sometimes; called ear-and-tail-biting syndrome. These animals would often become aggressive and hyper-irritable.” As he’s telling me this, my thoughts returned to Joseph and his violent rages. He continued, “You know, we learned very quickly from agricultural literature, the scientific literature, that you could nutrate away the disorder with good nutrition.” In that instant I had an epiphany. A burden was lifted and a sense of peace and light enveloped my mind. I knew that God had just given me the answer, nutrition!
THE EXPERIMENT
On January 17, 1996, almost two years to the day after my wife had committed suicide, we started loading micronutrients into Joseph. Within thirty days, my son no longer exhibited any symptoms whatsoever of bipolar disorder. It was gone! I remember sitting on the couch with him after six weeks and him saying to me, “Dad! Dad, where was I? What happened to me? Why was I so angry? Why was I so violent?” And I said, “Joe it doesn't matter. That was another day. It wasn't you. It was the disorder.” There wasn't anything that we could do alone to correct the disorder. But the answer came and I've never looked back and neither has Joseph.
My daughter Autumn was next. Her husband had to work a graveyard shift so he dropped Autumn off at our home for a week; she could not be left alone. It was then that I placed her on the same nutrient program as Joseph. Within a few days she became calm with dramatically fewer mood swings. She was able to care for herself and her young son. Within 45 days she was clear of all of her five medications.
It has been over 18 years that both Autumn and Joseph have been well. Autumn has written a best selling book titled, A Promise of Hope, to share her experience and her journey from being Bipolar Disorder 1 to great health with a loving family. The book was published in 2007 by HarperCollins and is available on Amazon.com.
THE CALLING
When Joseph and Autumn were made well, many people in our community started to come for help with their loved ones. More and more people tried our multinutrient program and more and more people experienced the same results as my children. This was the start of EMPowerplus Q96. Our desire is to help people be well and to have a happy and fulfilling life.
At this time, we started working with university researchers like world-renowned behavioral research scientist from the University of Calgary, Dr. Bonnie J. Kaplan. Dr. Kaplan’s research was published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry in 2001, which is the largest psychiatric journal in the world. Soon there were other research studies and publications. The University of Calgary, Harvard University, Ohio State University - Department of Psychiatry, The University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and many others. There are now over 40 researchers from 15 Universities and 23 medical Journal Publications who have studied its effects on disorders such as ADHD, autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar affective disorder, PTSD, addiction, anxiety, stress and depression. It's about restoration. It's about hope, healing, and health. Millions of bottles have been shared and over 100,000 souls have said thank you for this product. In Feb of 2013 we licensed the product EMPowerplus to QSciences to globally market it and to be able to reach and help more people faster. I don’t know if it will work for you or your loved ones but it might, that is my true hope. Try it now.