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The John W. Brick Foundation –
PF Franchisees Lynne and Victor Brick Start Foundation
in Memory of Victor’s Brother
2015 Issue 2 | GearedUp
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he John W. Brick Mental Health
Foundation was recently established
by PF Growth Partners, LLC franchisees Victor and Lynne Brick.
The Foundation is dedicated to
advancing research and bringing
about a comprehensive scientific
understanding of the relationship between exercise, a healthy
diet and mental health. It was
established in honor of Victor’s
oldest brother, John W. Brick, who
suffered from schizophrenia and
succumbed prematurely from
complications from a lack of integrated health care.
During his youth, John was
a beloved athlete and excelled in
running and weightlifting. However,
he developed schizophrenia in his teens
and the quality of his life degraded in the
subsequent years. John’s condition was
not extreme enough to be permanently
institutionalized so he eventually moved
into a mobile home in Florida near his
parents’ residence. As John’s affliction
began to worsen he increasingly withdrew from society. Near the end of his life
he believed he had to live without any
touch of the outside world; no computer,
television, clock, phone and eventually, air
conditioning. It was this final purge that
ultimately led to his premature death. John
passed in 2009 at the age of 62, alone in his
110-degree mobile home from heatstroke.
Up until his passing, despite his increasing
isolation, John remained kind and personable to those he allowed into his life.
“Growing up, John protected me and
when he became sick I began protecting
him. Now that he is gone I want to make
sure people remember his life and I want
to make a difference in his name,”said
Brick.“In all of the years he was sick, a
healthy lifestyle was never a part of his
treatment. I am convinced that it would
Proper nutrition
and exercise
are sorely overlooked and under
prescribed as
effective treatments
with mentally ill
patients, whether
or not it is used in
conjunction with
prescription drugs.
have helped the quality of his life, and
for others, it could mean the difference
between existing in pain and living a
happier life.”
It is estimated that up to 40
percent of the U.S. population
suffers from some form of mental
illness and roughly 50 percent of
Americans will be diagnosed with
mental illness in their li