Family members are appealing for more volunteers to help search the Fort McMurray area for an Indigenous man who has been missing for more than a week.

Wyatt Marten, 27, has schizophrenia. He was last seen by his aunt on March 12.

Lisa Marten-Grant said he stopped by her house and was behaving oddly.

"We need more people to come and help," Marten-Grant said. "We need to find this boy and bring him home. Should something like that ever happen to your son, believe me, you would want people out there searching and looking for him."

The family said the hospital changed Marten's medication before he went missing, and they fear he may have had a bad reaction to the new dosage.

A small group of volunteers has taken up the search operating from a garage in downtown Fort McMurray, handing out maps, safety vests and flashlights to helpers.

Marten's mother, Cindy Marten, held a morning meeting with the searchers. The ordeal has taken its toll on her but she said she's not giving up.

"I was at a little bit of a low point last night," she said. "I was disappointed. I was frustrated. But as long as I have something to do, something to work on to help find him, I am good."

Anyone with tips can contact the RCMP at 780-788-4040. Aolunteers can contact the family at 780-881-1646 or 780-215-6741. 

Follow David Thurton, CBC's Fort McMurray correspondent, on Facebook and Twitter, or email him at david.thurton@cbc.ca