Kelly Cole-Duke, 41, boarded a flight without medication during a manic episode. Her story illustrates one of mania’s most dangerous features: the impulse to go.
In early May 2026, Kelly Cole-Duke, a 41-year-old social worker from Michigan, boarded a Southwest Airlines flight from Grand Rapids to Chicago Midway Airport. She was in the middle of a manic episode. She did not have her medication. Her family knew she was in crisis, but they could not stop her.
According to WGN-TV, Cole-Duke’s sister drove up from Columbus, Ohio and alerted airport staff that her sister was experiencing a manic episode and was traveling without medication. But Cole-Duke had already boarded the plane. After landing at Midway, she disappeared.
Her husband told reporters that Cole-Duke has bipolar disorder and has a history of going on long drives during manic episodes. She also has a blood clotting disorder and was without medication for that condition as well. The Chicago Police Department issued a missing person alert, and her case was covered by multiple news outlets across the Midwest.
Cole-Duke was eventually found safe, according to subsequent reports.
Why Mania Makes People Run
Impulsive travel is one of the most common and least discussed features of mania. During a manic episode, the brain’s reward system goes into overdrive. Ordinary caution dissolves. The need for stimulation, movement, and escape can become overwhelming. People book flights, drive for hours with no destination, check into hotels in unfamiliar cities, or simply leave home and keep moving.
Cole-Duke’s case is not unusual. It is, in fact, a textbook illustration of what clinicians describe as goal-directed activity and impulsive behavior during mania. What makes it newsworthy is that it was caught in real time, with family members actively trying to intervene, and still the episode played out.
Cole-Duke is a mental health professional herself, holding a master’s degree in social work. She has spent her career helping others with mental illness. Her case is a reminder that bipolar disorder does not discriminate by education, profession, or self-awareness. When mania takes hold, even people who understand the condition intellectually can be unable to override its pull.
For families of people with bipolar disorder, her story highlights one of the condition’s most frightening realities: there is often no legal mechanism to stop an adult in a manic episode from making dangerous decisions until a crisis has already occurred.
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