
You were just a small boy when our family was blown apart by our parent’s divorce and our little brother’s slow death from cancer.
This shattered your sensitive soul and that was not your fault.
We moved thousands of miles away from our home so that mom would have the support of her family and Andrew could get better cancer treatment.
You grew up without a father and that was not your fault.
Andrew’s illness and death took a toll on our parents and they both drank to cope. Their grief and alcoholism was all consuming.
You didn’t feel safe or important and that was not your fault.
The motorcycle accident you had at 16 put you into a 4-day coma and you were never truly the same after that.
It beat your brain to a pulp and destroyed your frontal lobe and that was not your fault.
The disease of addiction runs through our family tree like sap in a Vermont Maple. You grew up thinking abusive drinking was normal.
You consumed alcohol to soothe your pain but then it consumed you and that was not your fault.
I was your older sister and without stable parents you needed me to step up to support and guide you.
I couldn’t do it well enough and that was not your fault.
Years of drinking and hard living took a toll on your body and your already beleaguered brain. You lost your health, family and friends and had no support system to help you.
