Heather Roberts: Heroine for our Times
This post is to honor the life, work, and words of our dear friend and regular blog contributor, Heather Roberts, who sadly we have learned died peacefully at her home on 20th October after a short illness. Heather campaigned alongside us in memory of her son, Olly, who had a severe adverse reaction to the prescribed medication Roaccutane.
We would like to honor Heather’s memory by highlighting some of the things she and her husband David have done to support individuals and families who have had similar experiences as well as to inform the public of medication pitfalls like the one their family so tragically suffered. She has written tirelessly to communicate what can go wrong when a medication is approved and widely prescribed without adequate warnings of all potential risks.
In 2018, Heather wrote two blog posts on The Perfect Circle, one and two, describing what the drug did to Olly and what drug companies do to families.
Olly’s Friendship Foundation
Out of their tragedy the Roberts family formed Olly’s Friendship Foundation and the Arts and Creativity Centre.
Heather wrote of Olly:
“He could see that people like him needed to get together and support each other in their anxiety, because there was nothing else out there for them. So he started building an Arts and Creativity Centre at his home, but he was given Olanzapine and Sertraline in mid-2012 and he found that he couldn’t remember who or where he was sometimes.”
(This comment by Heather is found under the post: https://rxisk.org/everythings-in-hand-isotretinoin-and-the-usual-guff/)
“We want to go on with his work. We’ve formed a charity, The Olly Roberts Charitable Trust CIO 1186149 https://www.justgiving.com/olly-roberts, and we are fundraising to finish his Arts Centre – you can see it on Facebook Olly’s Friendship Foundation. It will be a place where people can come to be understood, distracted by enjoying learning Arts and crafts skills, learn ways of giving their body nutrition, stress management, that may help any possible healing process. It’s main function will be to offer hope.
“Our little buzzword is ‘Learning through Creativity to find Hope’. Ostensibly it is for anyone feeling anxious, but my own hope is that we can uplift those who suffer after taking this medication, or indeed any medication that has made them feel lost and not listened to. We’ve had a Helpline since 2014. Like Olly used to say, only someone who has suffered can truly understand, despite having the best intentions, what this is really like. And those sufferers have tried so hard to find ways of staying alive. Together they may come up with something. At least they will know they are not alone. Like we do now, with so much support from all you amazing folk and Dr Healy with this blog forum. Bless you all.”
In 2018, Olly’s Friendship Room was the runner-up for the Marsh Innovative Church Project Award at St Michael and All Angels Church, Upper Sapey, Herefordshire.
To Honor Heather’s Memory
To lift the spirits of Heather’s family, they would very much welcome and appreciate your thoughts and happy memories of your times with Heather, by DM – email or post. The Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ollysfriendshipfoundation
It is the aim of the Roberts family to continue the Heather S Buchanan Art and Creativity Centre and the Olly Roberts Charitable Trust in Heather’s memory. A contribution can be made here: https://www.justgiving.com/olly-roberts
Heather and David worked to spread awareness in the general community and by contacting government officials, health organizations and doctors. They created a PDF about the dangers of Roaccutane and akathisia that can be shared with others, including doctors and dermatologists. https://rxisk.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/190714-Forwardin_HopeNotesfortalk.pdf
Heather encouraged us to light a candle on All Souls Day to remember those lost to ‘prescripticide’ and she regularly lit candles to honor the lives of children who died after taking Accutane.
She often referenced the movie, “Dying for Clear Skin” and made a pamphlet by the same name for the sharing of this information.
Heather was a wonderfully creative and talented Author & Illustrator. Early in her career she produced over 800 beautiful greetings cards and gift wrapping designs for Gordon Fraser, followed by the wonderful world of George & Matilda Mouse stories, Buttercup Meadow amongst many other things. It is her family’s intention for her beautiful work to continue to be accessible and seen by generations to come.
Down to Trust
Finally, a comment from Heather that relates to David Healy’s recent letter to Onora O’Neill, inviting her to help shed light on the need for the restoration of trustworthiness in medical science. Heather hoped for this kind of engagement and her words illustrate the urgency for a response:
“It’s all down to TRUST in the end, isn’t it? We ‘trust’ the expert, ‘trust me, I’m a doctor’ etc. When Olly was told RoAccutane would clear his skin, he trusted the dermatologist. When Olly was told Seroxat was good for shyness, social phobia, low mood (or whatever it was he sensed had come in from left field to zap his normal feelings of well being), he trusted the doctor. We trusted the doctor. We blithely went along with hearing and accepting the calm platitudes because we trusted that ‘first they do no harm’. Where and when did TRUST become a dirty word? A mugs’ word. And we have the NHS TRUSTS now too…
“…Once on the Seroxat, Olly was changed forever. We made excuses for the change in him. We put it down to stress, worry about his skin, his work, his concern that I would be paraplegic after the car crash, but no, it was the meds. And yet, we trusted that no doctor would, could possibly inflict something so unsafe on him. And every moment of every day, others now are trusting their doctors, just like we did. Because it makes us feel safe to do so, we hand over our precious trust, often because we are feeling ill and vulnerable and we expect to be treated as we would treat anyone ill and vulnerable reaching out to us for help.
“First the wretched acne, then the bullying at school because the skin looks different, then the RoAccutane – isotretinoin, then the weird low mood it sparks off, brain not working right, then the physical limitations from it too, so distractions like sports, creativity, socialising etc, get removed, then, ah, the trip to the doctor reporting feeling low. Have some Seroxat, says the smiling doctor. Then the free fall into paranoia, the fear (you know not why) and the insomnia, the akathisia. The skin may be better, but madness has arrived. Confusion reigns in your head. The downward spiral of terror. Friends fall away. You drop out of Uni, your planned future you began training for, slips away too, into the mist of lost memory. Like a drowning swimmer you keep reaching out for a passing lifebelt, another doc, who offers more meds…still smiling. When you don’t improve, the smiling doctor turns to sarcasm, disbelief, irritation, you are branded as attention-seeking, a time waster, a mollycoddled immature parasite, and you trust them all; you believe that you really are as they describe you, so you maybe struggle on as best you can for as long as you can, awash with suicidal thoughts which keep engulfing you, and then, when your poor brain hurts too much to bear, and your loved ones turn grey before your eyes with helpless worry, you think, ‘I am a burden’ and you fly away. Seemingly there was no way out of this Perfect Circle because of misguided innocent TRUST compounded by humiliation, heaped onto the patient and the parents by the trusted medical ‘experts.’
This post was written by Laurie Oakley
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Beautifully written Laurie and it covers so much of the work of Heather and her husband David. Heather’s gentleness shone through in every communication – added to which was a persuasive element which was always geared towards ensuring a better understanding, by the general public, of the possible dangers of prescribed medications. Heather worked tirelessly with others, and for others. She took such care of parents who had suffered from the same sort of tragedies as she and her family had endured for so many years. She had a strong belief in what lies beyond our time on this earth and that, I feel, had sustained her since Olly’s death. Her greatest disappointment was the fact that they had all been let down by those that they ought to have been able to trust. She had found so much comfort, in that respect, from finding out that so many of us shared so much of the same disappointments under very similar circumstances. Some of us, however, managed to escape the very worst scenario that faced Heather and David. Olly and Shane were very close in age. Both started to become unwell and to be prescribed antidepressants at around the same time. They were both prescribed Seroxat which created havoc for both in differing ways. Thank you, Laurie, for gathering the information that you have included here and for presenting it in your gentle way.
Well said, Mary. I’m really going to miss her presence here. Thank you for your kind words.
Such a fitting tribute to honour Heather Thank you Laurie
How we will miss the lovely Heather and in this piece how gloriously Laurie has captured the essence of our dear Heather.
Heather so often comes to mind after the sad news of her death,. I see something and I wonder, what would Heather think about that and how would Heather tackle that.
We have all witnessed the terrible agony that Heather felt upon losing Olly. She was so proud of him, her adored son. Her love always shone through and yet Heather being Heather left no stone unturned in her drive and desire to draw attention to the many layered and faceted positions that Olly faced.
Heather had a way with words where she could draw the picture in all its honesty, she would face head on in her inimitable way, the painful and oft horrifying journey that Olly travelled.
But, the greatest thing about Heather was the way she travelled with him. She hardly missed a trick and no matter how painful the words she put together, she defended and clarified Olly’s life until the end.
Seldom have we seen a woman’s grief so etched, so often, so written in painstaking detail.
I will always remember Heather, for introducing us to her lovely and talented son, for her enduring capacity to refuse to take what came their way on the chin, and for being so loyal to the instincts of a mother who knows when life has delivered such fatal blows.
Heather was a master of sleuthing, courageous, a champion of good over evil, driven, compelled, by love but with a tremendous capacity to realise that what came their way was not the entire story.
Heather will always endure, we have lost a captain of the ship.
Thank you Laurie.
I am deeply saddened to hear about the sudden loss of lovely Heather.
She was an angel in human form.
Heather was larger than life yet intensely human, courageous yet warm.
I will never forget her kind words, empathy or kindness.
Heather appreciated and understood well, the reason why so many of us come to rxisk, to tell our story.
Heather and her husband David, went ‘above and beyond’ their calling.
They have created a legacy that is second to none.
Their passionate, endless and tireless service towards humanity, is one that will remain in the hearts of those who understand the significance and magnitude, of their brilliant outstanding efforts.
We are blessed to have souls like Heather and David, advocating for our most vulnerable. They are an inspiration to all who have suffered by those whom we thought we could trust.
I respect and am in awe for what you have both achieved.
The support, love and hope that Heather and David gave to so many people will never be forgotten.
Someone special, like Heather, will live in my heart forever.
I wish to extend my heartfelt condolences to David and families. Wishing you strength for today and hope for tomorrow.
Carla, thank you for such a moving tribute to Heather and for your recognition of the achievements of her family. Their tireless endeavour to increase awareness of the devastation caused by ADRs and the additional pain caused by prescriber denial is inspirational.
Yes, indeed, Heather was ‘an Angel in human form’. Amongst her many gifts, Heather could always find words and thoughts that revived flagging spirits. She used each and every possible opportunity to protect other families from avoidable harms.
As Heather’s husband I am incredibly moved by all the wonderful comments and tributes that you have paid to Heather and to me. She was the most amazing communicator and story teller and would stand up in front of 200 children in the many primary school workshops she and I did and you could hear a pin drop!
She was also an avid reader and always had a book on the go on her Kindle. Amazon will miss her!
The greatest comfort to me is to know how much she has helped so many others in so many ways and that her work and efforts will live on especially her art work and the many articles she has written will be quoted, she would be so proud.
The fight for justice for our youngsters will continue until trust and responsibility is taken by the medical profession and big Pharma for the drugs they prescribe.
Thank you Laurie so very much for that beautiful tribute.
Dear Laurie. Thank you for giving such a lovely tribute of my Mum, Heather. We will all miss her very much and thank you for your support and kind messages. George Roberts.
My sincere condolences David, and George, for the loss of Heather and for everything your family has had to endure. You shouldn’t have suffered the tragedies you did, but you met them together with grace and found creative ways of expressing your outrage, grief, and concern for others. Thank you for sharing a bit more of Heather here. (I wish I could have been there to see her captivating the attention of all those little ones!)
Very sad to hear this news.
I never met Heather in person, but we would often reply to each others comments on this site,
and I greatly appreciated the support and encouragement she gave me,
especially when I was struggling more than usual with the PSSD.
She has done a lot to help highlight the harms prescription drugs can cause, and we must continue to fight on in her memory,
until the truth about the harms prescription drugs can cause, becomes universally accepted.
Heather Roberts: Heroin for our times.
Dear Laurie,
Thank you so much for posting such a beautifully written tribute to our friend, an angel and indeed, a heroin for our times.
Hello Tim,
Thank you for your heart-warming thoughts.
I genuinely stand behind my words.
Heather, was the kindest soul.
We all try to play our small part, despite the rebuke, we face.
Very sad to hear this news. Heather touched my life. Her comments and posts on this site have helped me so much as I have been finding my way to live with a drug injury. She will be missed.