Washington - When Joey Hudy went to the White House in
2012, the 8th grade science whiz captivated President Barack Obama - and the
world - with his large, orange marshmallow cannon.
He and Obama primed the homemade contraption and then
blasted its sugary ammo across the room, much to the dismay of the Secret
Service.
"Ohhh," Obama yelled, before retrieving the
marshmallow and Hudy's business card, "just in case."
It made for a memorial moment, an Obama administration's favourite,
and put Hudy, then 14, into the national spotlight. He became a celebrity
Maker, a jet-setting inventor of 3-D body scanners and solar-powered computers,
a promoter of STEM programs and the youngest ever corporate intern at Intel.
In 2015, he returned to the White House as Michelle
Obama's State of the Union guest to promote his personal motto: "Don't be
bored. Make something."
Brilliant.org once named him one of the "10 Smartest
Kids in the World."
This year, at age 20, Hudy's mind betrayed him.
He had graduated from Arizona State University and moved
to Hong Kong, his parents told TV station Fox 10, when he began experiencing
paranoia and psychosis. He believed the Chinese government was following him
and that his apartment was bugged.
"It was something I never dreamed of hearing,"
Hudy's mother, Julie Hudy, told Fox 10.
In January, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital
overseas and diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia is a disease of the mind that affects how a
person thinks, feels and behaves. Symptoms usually manifest anywhere from age
16 to 30, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, and can cause
those affected to hear and see things that aren't real.
Doctors still aren't sure what causes schizophrenia, so
treatment focuses on eliminating symptoms with antipsychotic medications and
psychosocial therapy.
But treating schizophrenia, or any mental illness, can be
financially crippling. To help offset the expenses, Hudy's older sister,
Elizabeth Hudy, created a GoFundMe account on her parents' behalf.
"Anyone who knows my mother and father knows that
they are some of the most generous and caring people you will ever meet,"
Elizabeth Hudy wrote on the fundraising site. "They fill the lives of
others with so much love and support and they deserve the same, especially in
such a difficult time."
While their son got help at an Ohio treatment center in
February, Julie and Victor Hudy lived in a nearby hotel, Elizabeth Hudy wrote.
His condition deteriorated and last week, Joey Hudy's doctors recommended he be
transferred to a long term care facility in Tennessee.
"You may not be aware of the significant cost of
mental health care in the United States for such a diagnosis, and neither was
I," she wrote.
Ten days at the Ohio facility cost $19 500.
A month in Tennessee will cost more than $25 000.
"Joey will likely have to stay for a minimum of
three months," Elizabeth wrote. "After this time we still don't know
how long it will take for the medications to be effective or what will be the
next steps."
As of Thursday morning, the family had raised $18 400 of
its $50 000 goal and the GoFundMe had been widely circulated on social media
among those in the Maker Faire community of tech and science enthusiasts and
former Obama White House staffers. Among those who had donated was Paulette
Aniskoff, a deputy assistant to the president and director of the Office of
Public Engagement in the Obama White House.
The family said that any excess funds will go toward
helping other families burdened by the cost of mental health care.