5150 (eBook, ePUB)

5150 A Manic Depressive Adventure is the first memoir by writer Tony del Zompo. Tony was by all appearances a regular guy. Although he struggled with alcoholism and addiction during his adolescence, he got clean and sober before his twenty-second birthday and went on to start a family, complete a graduate education, and begin a career in health care. Tony did not realize at the time, however, that sobriety was only the beginning; he had not idea that he had reached adulthood completely unaware of the work that remained. The story truly begins when his marriage ends. At times funny, frequently gut-wrenching, what ensues is a wildly unpredictable journey that can only end when the protagonist is confronted with an opportunity to make the last decision he may ever have to face. Tony is a physical therapist who lives and works in Santa Cruz, CA. Tony remains an avid surfer, snowboarder, and writes in his spare time. 5150 A Manic Depressive Adventure is his first full length book, but his pieces have appeared in Genesis Magazine, The Catamaran Literary Reader, and The Santa Cruz Sentinel. He has begun working on his second memoir, Finding Jessica, the story of how he recovered from his mental health crisis and reunited with his daughter after a ten-year estrangement. Although Tony enjoys clinical practice, his intention is to retire from physical therapy in order to write full time. Tony is also an accomplished speaker. He has participated in high school outreach programs in Santa Cruz and San Francisco, and in 2019 he presented the keynote address during the closing ceremony of The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention‘s Out of the Darkness Overnight in San Francisco.