14th of January 2008
It was 10am and Jonny Benjamin went to Waterloo Bridge in central London.
He was feeling distressed and hopeless.
He had been suffering from schizoaffective disorder a mental health condition which sees sufferers struggle with hallucinations, delusions and depression — and which caused him to consider suicide and be sectioned.
Jonny had been hearing voices since he was ten-years old. He just thought everyone had them in their head.
He had begun to think that he was being watched – just like in the movie, The Truman Show.
He believed that there were cameras in mirrors, in TV screens watching him all day long.
Standing on the Waterloo Bridge Jonny had hit rock bottom and was going to end his life.
But fate intervened and six years later Jonny is well into his recovery and desperate to say thank you to that stroke of luck that helped him that day.
It came in the form of a stranger, who he has called ‘Mike’.
A good samaritan who talked him down from his desperate predicament.
The stranger who approached him was calm.
“He said please don’t do this” Jonny said “I’ve been where you are and you can get better.”
The man asked him to go and have a coffee and talk about it.
’“He reminded me of what people do every day so the normality of it was really inviting.”
Jonny agreed to go with the man.
