Pubdate: Wed, 07 Jun 2006
Source: Meridian Booster (CN AB)
Copyright: 2006, The Lloydminster Meridian Booster
Contact:  http://www.meridianbooster.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1590
Author: Peter Worden
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?135 (Drug Education)

THROUGH LOSS COMES HOPE

It Was Far More Than The Typical School-To-School "Don't Do Drugs" Spiel.

Grade 6 and 7 students from across the Lloyd Catholic  School 
Division filled the gymnasium at Father Gorman  school Monday morning 
to hear from Dee Dee Fenrich, a  mother from Wilkie, Sask. who knows 
the terrible and  twisted world of drugs all too well.

"Drugs play for keeps and they're hard to give up," she said.

A mother of four, Fenrich lost her 19-year-old son,  Marc, last May 
when he overdosed on drugs. He had been  involved with substances 
such as marijuana since the  age of 12; the same age as many students 
in the  gymnasium.

"He looks just like a normal kid," said Grade 7 student  Cory Royal. 
"But in his journal, one part of him didn't  know what another part was doing."

The presentation was profound for both students and  staff alike as 
Fenrich read portions of her son's  journal and ended her talk by 
showing a slideshow of  Marc's life.

"I know I won't do drugs in my lifetime," said Royal.

Over Marc's teenage years, Fenrich quickly learned more  and more 
about the hopeless world of drugs. She watched  helplessly from the 
sidelines as her son's demeanour  changed and he stumbled through the 
confusing reality  of drugs. He increasingly relied on other 
substances  such as mushrooms, ecstasy, and crystal meth, and  pushed 
others away who just wanted to help.

"He said, 'I don't need help. I can do it myself. And  anyway, I 
don't have a problem,'" said Fenrich.

Fenrich found herself searching Marc out in some of the  most 
frightening places for a mother to find her child.  One place, as she 
described it, was the last step  before living on the street, a place 
filled with  prostitutes and drug dealers. It was a place where murders happen.

Fenrich said she gives the presentations because it's  the only way 
she can think of to cope with her son's  death. Her son, a handsome, 
normal-looking teenager  with plenty of friends, had so much unused 
potential.  Speaking to a gym full of promising young students  gives 
her a chance to remind them they have a purpose,  and not to waste it.

"Life's not perfect. And if they can understand that  early on, then 
they will be so much better off," she  said.

Fenrich tells her emotionally trying story to schools  in Wilke, 
North Battleford, Edam, and Unity; all  communities her son passed 
through during his battle  with drug addiction. With family in 
Lloydminster, she  spoke to younger students at Father Gorman and 
older  students Tuesday at Holy Rosary High School.
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