Casey was born on June 12, 1987 in Middleburg Heights, Ohio. He grew up in an average middle class family with both parents and a sister and a brother. He was the happiest kid around, always having a goofy grin on his face. He was a big towheaded blond kid but such a gentle person.

When Casey was little there were 2 character traits that I discovered about him. One was that he was a risk taker and didn’t seem to have any fear. I learned this when taking him to the playground where he proceeded to climb to the top of the jungle gym or jump off a swing in mid air. The other was Casey’s compassion for others. I learned about this when I would have to collect the toys he gave away to his friends “because they wanted them.” Through the years Casey would always help a friend in need many times without thinking about the potential consequences to himself. He just saw a friend in need and he wanted to help…..that was Casey. If he got caught throwing spit balls in school but no one else was caught, that was fine with Casey. He would take the punishment so the others didn’t have to. Friends were so important to him.

He loved sports, video games, swimming and games. He could make a game out of anything. But most of all Casey loved his friends and his family. He was just a happy go lucky guy who was quiet until you got to know him and had the best sense of humor.
He was a natural athlete and could do anything he set his mind on. In middle school he found football and he was very good. It was expected he would play up in high school. Life was great for Casey. But in the spring of his 8th grade year he was having some back pain. The Dr diagnosed a stress fracture in his lower back and he was required to wear a back brace during waking hours. High school football was not going to happen in 9th grade. That loss coupled with new girlfriends for several of his closest friends and Casey was a bit lost. From there, he began to experiment with drugs.

We’ve learned that Casey pretty much tried everything at some point. But in 11th grade, he went looking for heroin because he had heard it was the ultimate high.

And thus began a journey we never expected to be on and were ill equip to handle. It’s a journey where there is something new waiting around each corner. We knew we had a problem but didn’t know what to do. Casey began out-patient rehab during his senior year. He continued on to college for 2 years but then came home. He continued to struggle and we did too, as addicts and their families do. In 2009 Casey finally began to make some progress with his addiction. First of all, he began to accept that he had a problem that wasn’t going away. Maybe he couldn’t control it like he had always thought. He had really open up with his counselor. She had suggested a medication he could take to help him with his cravings. We talked about it and did some research and he decided to try it. The medication is Suboxone and he began taking in May. He did find that it helped but had to increase the dosage. He began going to extra AA meetings on his own. We had required he attend but he began to go when he felt he needed it. He found a sponsor which was huge. We felt we were getting our Casey back.

In September of 2009 our daughter got married. It was a glorious day filled with family and friends. We all enjoyed it very much. The morning after the wedding we had to leave to take our youngest son to college. Casey took us to the airport and stayed home with the dogs. Everything seemed to be going well.

But that all changed on November 12, 2009. Casey’s dad found him in the bathroom and called 911 but it was too late. We had lost our beautiful boy and the drugs won. We found out many things after we lost Casey. First and foremost is that his friends did not know he had ever used heroin. Casey hid it from everyone. He also went to great lengths to protect his brother and sister from following the same path. We found out for Casey, one day at a time was more like one hour at a time to not use. We learned that he struggled greatly but rarely shared his pain with others. We learned that we as parents did everything right but still could not prevent the loss of our son. Casey did not intend to die that November day. He was looking forward to the weekend, when his girlfriend would be in town. He had helped me make dinner that night, just a normal day. But something triggered his need to use and with heroin if you use after a gap of non-use it can be deadly. Addiction is a disease of secrecy and it is the secrecy that kills.