The girl who didn’t know colors. This story by Melanie Vaernewyck has now been released as a children’s book. Melanie was suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), or obsessive neurosis. In her struggle to get a grip on the disease, Melanie tried to make OCD negotiable. At the end of June she gave up the fight for good, but she now lives on in the non-profit organization Mel’s Rose, founded to assist people with the same diagnosis and to raise money for further scientific research.
“With the non-profit organization Mel’s Rose, we want to continue her fight against OCD with a number of people who were close to Melanie,” says drama therapist Aude Dewerchin hopefully. “In the first place, the non-profit organization wants to bring the disease to the attention of the media and make it negotiable. But we also want to help break the taboo surrounding psychological suffering in general. This in times when more and more people are confronted with fears. . Melanie’s booklet is a first means of promoting this topic. The approach is her personal story. Melanie, our rose, trapped under the bell jar called OCD. Hopefully others will find the courage and the way to light the light. into the bell jar and break through the bell like a rose. “
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“With the non-profit organization Mel’s Rose, we want to continue her fight against OCD with a number of people who were close to Melanie,” says drama therapist Aude Dewerchin hopefully. “In the first place, the non-profit organization wants to bring the disease to the attention of the media and make it negotiable. But we also want to help break the taboo surrounding psychological suffering in general. This in times when more and more people are confronted with fears. . Melanie’s booklet is a first means of promoting this topic. The approach is her personal story. Melanie, our rose, trapped under the bell jar called OCD. Hopefully others will find the courage and the way to light the light. into the bell jar and break through the bell like a rose. “It was Melanie’s dream to write a children’s book. The story had her partner Jonathan D’Hondt, manager of Het Muziekhuis in Anzegem, illustrate as a gift for her Mother’s Day. It symbolized her personal struggle to keep seeing colors. Designer Stijn D’Hondt of Heren Loebas was closely involved as a cousin and turned it into a gem. “Melanie was a woman full of color and love, an enchanting rose that could make others bloom too,” says partner Jonathan D’Hondt (40) in a letter accompanying the booklet. Unfortunately, her rose also had thorns and she was covered in a bell jar of fears and obsessions. As a song can keep racing through your mind, so overpowering fears haunted Melanie’s mind tirelessly. rose again and again towards the sun, but gradually she lost her leaves and she was no longer able to see colors. Until black no longer turned gray. “” An important part of the operation of the association consists of sharing testimonials from people who are closely or further involved in OCD, including family members, care providers and psychologists, “say co-founders of the non-profit organization Katrijn D’Hondt and Sofie Merlier. Under the banner ‘Dare to speak! Now more than ever.’ These stories can be found on our website. Our goal is to create a clear picture of the disease, the possible treatments and to help people in their search. Evenings will be organized with guest speakers and music performances. ” Many people were deeply affected by Melanie’s death. Because she was very open about her illness, the people in her vicinity were aware of it. It left them with many questions about how it could have gotten this far and whether they could have done anything. “This will always remain an open question for me too,” says Jonathan. “I still find it incomprehensible and Mel also knew that her fears were absurd. They could be about the most banal things, but they felt as if you were standing at an abyss and were afraid of falling into the depths. She had these feelings. all day long, every day. ”“ I compare it to a mental cancer that is somewhat congenital. Something that you carry with you and can completely overgrow your thinking, ”says Jonathan. “Mel liked to have everything under control and was a perfectionist. Her fears were her grip. Two admissions to a psychiatric center were necessary for the past two years, but I can’t say it really helped,” Jonathan says softly. “She did acquire insight into illness, but her fears continued to grow, no matter how hard she fought against them. The sober outlook she had from time to time to distance herself from her illness became more and more scarce and her thoughts became more difficult. The corona measures made it even more difficult because visitors were not allowed and she had to miss her family for six weeks. At the end of June, Melanie was so trapped in her fears that she saw no other way out than to give up the fight, she was just under 35 years old. then.” “For me it is not an obvious period now to change my mind due to the partial lockdown. My activities in the Muziekhuis are normally my outlet, but they will be shut down until New Year. We try to get through it, with ups and downs. Hope and I try to draw positivity from the vzw. It is a way of processing. In response to a first facebook post there were 165 orders for Mel’s booklet and I am now distributing them. In any case, in recent years I was alone with Lauren (4) because Mel was not at home much because of her recordings, so we are already used to that. Last summer Lauren asked a lot about her mom. We miss Melanie both. She was a jump-in-the-field , everyone’s friend and also wanted everyone to like her. She could make two stones speak, as it were and was very much liked. It was also one of her fears of losing her friends through her social isolation. Mel could also sing beautifully and was li d of two choirs. It was in that world that we met for the first time. “On her mourning card Jonathan wrote, among other things, that the toughest fight cannot always be won, but that she will remain ‘Mel’ for him forever and ever. (Gerda Verbeke)
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