Mr. Ferguson is a single, mixed race 25 y. o. man. He describes himself as creative and artistic, enjoying to sing, dance and draw. However, despite still being a young man, he has already had several struggles in life in addition to his mental illness:

I was four years old, I got hit by a car, and then I had got abused by my father when I was seven years old to eight years old. I went through a lot of medical problems while I was doing so, while I was being abused.

Despite being abused by his father, Mr. Ferguson has warm feelings for his dad and believes his father, who is now deceased, watches over him.

I understood why I was going through it because I was being hard headed really. ‘Cause I was doing things I shouldn’t have done. But he taught me a lot of things really, and I respect my dad for that. He passed away thirteen years ago. And I miss him a lot, but I understood that he had to go somewhere I didn’t understand. So when I thought about that, I praised that he was passed, that he passed away, because he blessed me in the sense because I’m protected by him… ‘Cause I see him all the time. ‘Cause his spirit is around me.

Listen to both of the above excerpts here:

Mr. Ferguson didn’t elaborate further on his childhood other than to report playing baseball and having several part time jobs in the service industry throughout high school. He enjoyed working, particularly when he was afforded multiple responsibilities, and believes he was better able to focus during that time.

Listen to Mr. Ferguson discuss his experiences with working and during high school here:

It was at age 18 when he was first told that he suffered from mental illness, an experience that was initially confusing for him:

When I had a mental illness, it was tough for me because I didn’t understand what I was going through at the time, and things just started turning upside down on me and I was paranoid, and I didn’t understand what was going on with me. So I really sat down and thought one day, “Why is God penalizing me like this?”

Despite his questioning of God at that time, Mr. Ferguson has had a deep and strong faith in God for a number of years. As seen above (see his message at the top of this page), what he most wants other people to know about him has to do with his faith in God.

Mr. F: ‘Cause God gave me the ability to, and I always praise Him. That’s why I’m talking about him so much. ‘Cause I love him so much, you know.
Interviewer: Have you been religious since you were a child?
Mr. F: Yes, I got saved when I was eleven years old. And, transformed my life totally.

​Although Mr. Ferguson does have one friend he sees almost daily, he does not have many close relationships. He is estranged from his family because they reportedly put him down, and he keeps aloof in general so that others cannot hurt him or call him names. For this reason, he attempts to hide his mental illness from most people around him:

Mr. F: A lot of people don’t know ‘cause I don’t act like it… they don’t understand. And I like it like that so they don’t get to know me so they won’t try to hurt me.
Interviewer: You’re concerned that if they get to know, then they will try to hurt you.
Mr. F: Right.

Despite his interpersonal hesitation, Mr. Ferguson was excited to be interviewed and to have his story told in the hopes that others could learn from his life.

I’ve been through a lot of things throughout my lifetime and I, you know, I learned from a lot of things that I went through…