Addiction is never wanted and even though it comes in many ways, sometimes it sneaks up and grabs the innocent. It affects the family in a way that is devastating with no understanding of why.
Jimmy C. is a young seventeen-year-old honor student who loves sports, ever since a young child he would excel at basketball and football and loved most of all when not playing to watch games with his dad. Jimmy played trumpet in the High School band when he was not playing on the field or the court. Raised in a Midwestern suburb, Jimmy has a sister two years younger than him a little brother who was eleven years old. The family went to church on Sundays and Mom and Dad both college graduates held well-paying jobs. The family had strong family values and Jimmy and his siblings were raised in a wholesome structured environment.
On a crisp Friday evening, on the home field of Jimmy’s high school he was on the field playing varsity football with his family in the stands to root him on. At the start of the second half of the game, Jimmy was on the field to receive the second half kick-off, he caught the ball on the 2-yard line and started up the field. As he crossed the 25-yard line he was hit both low and high by the defenders his body went one way his legs another. He took a hard blow and lay on the field. The coaches and the trainers ran out on the field they could see Jimmy in terrible pain and he couldn’t move. They carried him off the field and his parents rushed him to the hospital not even waiting for an ambulance. After arriving at the hospital Jimmy’s parents found out he had injured his knee and needed surgery.
After surgery and stint in physical therapy jimmy was determined to get back on in shape and get back on the field for his senior year. After surgery Jimmy was prescribed opiates for the pain. The injury was severe and the rehab would take months and months of physical therapy. Jimmy worked hard in physical therapy with the determination of getting back into the game by his senior year. Physical therapy was tough on this young boy and the pain always there. So, he did what he was told take his meds for the pain and keep focused on getting back in shape. Well there were times during his rehab that he would hurt so much after physical therapy he would take a pain pill so he could rest. The bottle said take 2 tablets as need for pain. Jimmy would take one in the morning and then another to help him get through the school day and another after physical therapy.
As his knee was healing, Jimmy felt as long as he was taking his medication all would be well. One morning in a rush to get to school he forgot to take his medication, before lunch he started to feel a little sick and his knee began to hurt so he had his medication and took some. Within a short period of time he felt better and went about his day. As the months moved on Jimmy’s mom would get him refills of his medication and thought that everything was coming along as planned his knee was getting better and he was tired a lot and she figured it was from him pushing so hard in physical therapy to get back in shape and on the field. The family talked of how they couldn’t wait for his senior year to see him on the field again.
Summer came and Jimmy who had always loved to go water skiing with the family, had to sit this summer out. So, the first few trips out with the family Jimmy went and it was no fun to sit in the boat or on shore so Jimmy stopped going. He would stay home on the weekend and go to the arcade play video games and hang out. As summer progressed the family noticed that Jimmy’s attitude was getting pretty negative and that he was not participating in family functions, sleeping late missing his Physical therapy appointments sometime and not wanting to be around people. Jimmy was about to be taken off his medication and kept insisting that he needed it to get passed the pain of physical therapy. By the time the summer ended if he didn’t take his meds he would get sick and when school started again Jimmy was a different person. He could not get any more medication from the doctor so he started buying them on the street. If he didn’t have them he would be sick. As the school year started Jimmy took to stealing money from his family to buy more meds. Then he found out that heroin was cheaper and did the same thing as the meds. Heroin is an opiate. Jimmy had started football practice and missed a lot of practices after school, and never hung out with his sister as he always had. He always had an excuse for being home late and his attitude got defensive.
Right around Halloween as the leaves are changing and chill is in the air. Jimmy’s mom gets a phone call from the school that Jimmy never made first period. Jimmy’s mom tried to reach him and when she couldn’t she went to the school to talk to his sister and she said he left early and she hadn’t seen him. Dad was called and the police notified and everyone was looking for Jimmy. Mom and dad drove all over town and now evening was coming. Jimmy’s sister had gone to a friend to wait and hear from mom and dad about Jimmy. Well Mom called his sister and said they were all going home, to walk home and wait and they would be there soon to here from the police. Jimmy’s sister walked home and waited, she turned on the TV and waited for Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad got there and everyone was frantic. Home about an hour and the police knocked on their door, they had found Jimmy. The news was sad they found him under some bushes in the park behind the school, Jimmy was dead from an overdose. It looked to them as if he was left for dead, they found paraphernalia by the body. No family should have to bury their child.
This disease is subtle, it’s cunning, baffling and powerful. It is not the old-world stigma that this can’t happen to me. This can happen to any family. There is an epidemic in our country and there is a way out of this nightmare. There are solutions, and recovery has happened for millions of people around the world. If you or your family is struggling with this disease. I will help you find solutions. As I have said before each person’s path to recovery is different, but the journey is the same.