The short story:
Brian was full of life and potential. He tried cocaine at the age of 30, lived many rough and wasted years. He died of drug related complications at the age of 45.
The longer version:
Some student’s stories start so promising, with high expectations they will achieve all hopes and dreams. Some students reserve their moment of breakout for a later time, but all around them we can see the beauty, the developing strength and inventiveness in them. We all begin life’s journey in our own way.
We knew a guy that got his breakout early. He was such a fun guy and was always a friend to anyone around him. He welcomed everyone with a smile as if they were the only one around and made you feel like you were the most important person in the room. That’s because to him, you were. He was certainly one of the most loved people that we all knew growing up. He excelled at people.
Brian was so very much fun and great to be around. He had that ability to make everyone laugh and pick everyone up around him. He was a star in the family and took great consideration with his faith. He always got so much out the retreats in school and later through CHRP, probably because they brought faith and friends together.
He was elected social chairman at his fraternity, ATO. He graduated in the top in his high school class and went on to graduate cum lade at Mizzou. He married a beautiful sweet girl who loved him so much. It seemed he had it all going for him.
The one thing about Brian is he was always a risk taker and along his life journey some of those risks included experimenting with different drugs. In high school, college and right after college it was just social use at parties and on trips. For some people that social use turns into more than just experimentation and starts leading them to more of an addiction. In Brian’s case his addiction started with cocaine around his early 30’s. By the time he was 33 he got divorced, lost his house and went to rehab. He then moved on to prescription drugs and other opiates. This young vibrant guy at 28 who was brilliant and was starting the next chapter of his life was dead just after his 45th birthday. It was devastating for his family and friends to watch as they tried everything to pull him away from these demons but drugs had taken another of God’s beautiful creations.
We have a question, and it isn’t ‘Why him?’ It is more ‘How can this be avoided?’
Brian’s Legacy
Let’s work on the answer to that. Brian’s legacy is you – the Catholic student with so much potential. Let’s see if we can avoid the same fate.
Let’s set up a way for you to figure this out. You need to be able to make decisions under uncertainty. The best way to do so is through counsel of your own. We would like you to start thinking about how you will avoid the same path. You see, some people can experiment with drugs and be ok. For others, that one time leads to another, and another, and another and the outcome is awful. Unfortunately, you don’t know which way it will go for you ahead of time. It is better to avoid that game of roulette.
So how could this be avoided?
Tell us how YOU will avoid trying drugs. We will annually award a $2,500 scholarship to an 8th grade student that can be used toward tuition at the area Kansas City Catholic high schools. We will judge your answers through an anonymous process If you win, you will help us choose the future years’ winners.
If you are interested in applying, click here.