Racing for life: A Special Olympian’s 21-year fight with bipolar disorder

Raymone Peart points to the damaged roof of his home in Berkshire Hall, St Catherine. (Photo: Gavin Jones) Latest News, News BY KELSEY THOMAS Online coordinator thomask@jamaicaobserver.com March 29, 2026 Racing for life: A Special Olympian’s 21-year fight with bipolar disorder Despite being diagnosed with an intellectual disability as a young boy, Raymone Peart has fond memories of his adolescence — travelling the world and collecting medals as a member of Jamaica’s Special Olympics swimming team.

However, more than two decades later, his life looks very different. Now unemployed, the 42-year-old is battling mental illness and struggling to afford the medication he needs to remain healthy.

According to Peart, his life changed dramatically when he was 22 years old. At the time he was still swimming competitively and had begun teaching the sport at a private St Andrew high school, working with students during the day and assisting with an after-school programme that included children from neighbouring schools. Then, suddenly, he said, he became ill. “To tell you the truth… I can’t remember anything.

I only remember that I got sick and I walked for miles…to Old Harbour Bay,” Peart told Observer Online, recalling his first mental breakdown. When he regained awareness, he was at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), where doctors later diagnosed him with bipolar disorder. There, he said he spent several weeks admitted to the psychiatric ward.

“I started doing my own research, my own studies, like what triggers it, what can lead to this, stuff like that,” Peart shared. For years, he worked carefully to keep the condition under control. He consistently took his medication, attended medical appointments and avoided alcohol or drugs that could worsen his illness.

Managing stress, he said, is key to staying well.

“How I get sick, I have to be extremely stressed…If I’m comfortable, I don’t get sick period. So every day, what I did was just take my medication. When it’s time for me to go to the hospital, I go take my injection.

I make sure I sleep, I don’t smoke weed, I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t smoke drugs, anything at all that could create a complication, I don’t do it,” Peart explained.

He continued, “Because I’ve been in the street where I see other mentally ill patients, they’re smoking weed, they’re walking around. I have one friend, when he couldn’t take the pressure, he turned to crack cocaine and next thing I know the crack cocaine burn out all of him kidney dem and kill him.” Between 2008 and 2020, Peart said he remained stable and managed to build a small livelihood.

He created an informal courier service, running errands for people who would call on him to pick up food, visit the post office or shop on their behalf.

“I created a clientele for myself…people would call me and I would go to like Burger King, KFC, go to the post office or go shopping for somebody.”

However, like many others, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted his stability.

“When corona struck and they were warning everybody not to let anybody touch anything for them, especially food, I lost most of my business. Things were so bad. My friends couldn’t help me anymore,” Peart said, adding that he eventually lost his home and ended up living on the streets.

“One night I was so hungry and a man came to me and offered me some money to have sex with me. And I just decided I had enough and I decided to kill myself. I didn’t go with him but I just decided to kill myself,” he recounted.

Feeling that he had reached his limit, Peart attempted to take his own life by stepping into the path of an oncoming vehicle. The car struck him, injuring his ankle and leaving him bruised. He was taken to the UHWI and later transferred to Bellevue Hospital for psychiatric care.

“That was my first time in Bellevue where I got beaten, I got tied down, I got injected more than usual, I got locked up in small cells and I bear it, bear it, bear it. I was there for about a month or six weeks,” he recalled. He was eventually discharged, but the struggles continued.

In June 2025, Peart was again admitted to Bellevue Hospital, where he remained for approximately three months before he was released in August.

“I don’t know how my life has turned out like this,” he lamented. Currently, Peart is trying to rebuild his life in the country, where he hopes to start farming on land available to him.

However, he cannot afford to lease the property. His current living conditions are also difficult.

“The house that I live in right now is in a very bad condition. The room that I am in, one of the zinc gone, the rest of the roof is leaking. The next side of the house, most of it is rotten, rotten down.

The door is not good so I’m at the mercy of wicked people or whosoever wants to hurt me because you can just basically, just one kick and the door just drop down,” Peart shared. Despite his hardships, Peart still reflects proudly on his achievements as a swimmer even after being diagnosed with an intellectual disability as a teenager.

In 1999, he travelled to North Carolina as part of the Special Olympics programme. Though he felt his performance was not his best, the experience motivated him to train harder. Four years later, he represented Jamaica again at the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Ireland where his improved performances caught the attention of local clubs.

“I’ve gotten awards like athlete of the year, most dedicated athlete. I’m [one of] the most decorated Special Olympics local athletes,” he told Observer Online.

“I was in one swim meet and I got over 15 medals.”

“I’m the first Special Olympics athlete to go to a regular swim meet and did the 1500 metre where I came second overall and I was the first one to go in a regular swim meet and did a 25 metre freestyle so that’s a record in Special Olympics, it’s not a record in regular swimming but in regular swimming that’s very commendable because at that time the record for regular swimming was 23 seconds,” he continued. Today, however, his focus is simply on survival and stability, because according to Peart, managing his illness depends heavily on maintaining stability in his life.

“As I told you, I was sick from 2008 and I never got sick again till 2020 so if you check that, that was a good 12 years. So I had something doing to make my money. I had something doing where my friends them would send me money or so, and I was comfortable,” he explained.

Peart expressed gratitude to the many people who have helped him over the years. Key to his support system is his mother, his grandmother and his stepfather.

“My grandmother and my mother is like my biggest supporter and my stepdad. But to tell you the truth, the family is like really poor so some things they just can’t do for me.