THE MAPLE TREES
BEAR WITNESS

A daughter’s compelling and heart-wrenching journey through her Mom’s devastating mental illness. The story explores the challenges the Mom and daughter faced  dealing with the chronic disease during the late 1960s to 1995. It focuses on the Mom being institutionalized at Medfield State Hospital numerous times throughout the daughter’s childhood into her early adulthood.

The true story depicts a vision of a roller coaster ride for a teenage caregiver to a mentally ill parent. It dances through the daughter’s visits seeing her Mom at the frightening mental institution.  The daughter feared for her and her Mom’s safety.  At the same time, the daughter is attending Medfield High School which provides a refuge from all the pain. It explores the daughter’s frustrations of not being able to get her Mom help or being unable to find a cure for her illness.

The story focuses how we must not forget the people, the patients, and their loved ones who suffered at Medfield State Hospital. Through all the years and ups and downs, the love the daughter has for her Mom endures and stays strong.

About the Author

Laura Wirth graduated from Medfield High School, Dean College, and the University of Hartford.

She worked in Nonprofit Management serving as a volunteer, advocate, consultant, college instructor, and board member.

She married that guy from Medfield. They have two adult children.

In her spare time, Laura enjoys gardening tending to her hydrangeas, playing with Duke, her English Cream golden retriever, and looking out the window at her giant Maple tree.