Early on October 10, 2003, Thor Nystrom initated a fight in the Naismith parking lot that would lead to his struggle through the mental health system. "I look into the parking lot and remember a boy bleeding on the pavement. I can see his hurt. I feel it in my heart. I want to talk to him. I want to tell him to chill out, that it will all get better," Nystrom remembers. "I remember wanting to die."

Photo by Rachel Seymour

Kansan reporter Thor Nystrom's first semester of college ended with him moving home after getting in a fight and being diagnosed with schizophrenia. He wrote this account of what he calls his descent into "the depths of hell."

Photo by Rachel Seymour

Nystrom, right, poses with Will, Quinn, his father and his mother, Rachel, for a family photo in Baxter, Minn., in December 2004. The previous month, Nystrom had been released from the mental institution in Willmar, Minn., after spending four months in three different mental institutions.

Nystrom with his sister, Quinn, on the cruise ship's formal night during a family trip to Hawaii during spring break 2007.

Nystrom at a gathering of family friends and childhood friends in summer 2007. At this time, he had lost 150 pounds after being off the medications and on a diet-and-workout regimen during the previous semester.

Thor Nystrom sits with his brother, Will; his sister, Quinn; and his father, Bob, during a spring break trip to Hawaii in 2007. By then he had given up the meds, lost 150 pounds and returned to the University of Kansas.

The picture for Nystrom's KUID was taken at the beginning of his freshman year in August 2003, before his weight gain.

CONTRIBUTED

Nystrom got a new driver's license in May 2005. His appearance had changed so much that casino officials had rejected his ID.

CONTRIBUTED