By Jennifer Dempsey
Forty-eight years ago, Hunter Doherty Adams vowed never to have another bad day in his life.
He was 18 and had been hospitalized for his third suicide attempt. During his stay in the psychiatric ward, Adams had the revelation that there must be a better way to respond to a world that seemed cold and uncaring than to try to leave it.
So he started clowning and the legend of Patch Adams, Clown-Doctor, was born, immortalized by Robin Williams in the 1998 film “Patch Adams.”