Hotmail
A family's struggle against addiction
 | FREE VIDEO |
 |
Meeting Carrick Forbes July 29: How does a 19-year-old turn into a junkie? And how does her family cope? Warning: Some of the images you’ll see are graphic: This is a raw and real ordeal, just as her family lived it. Dateline NBC |
WATCH THE VIDEOS |
Meet Carrick Forbes: How does a 19-year-old turn into a junkie? And how does her family cope? Warning: Some of the images you’ll see are graphic: This is a raw and real ordeal, just as her family lived it. |
Most popular Dateline pages |
Sign up for the newsletter |
|
In May, nine months after we met the family, Deirdre graduated with honors from the local community college with a certificate in substance abuse counseling, an ironic achievement for the mother of an addict. Carrick did not see her mother’s ceremony, and she missed Duncan’s big day in the school play as well.
But that month, there was a breakthrough. Her parents found out that Carrick had indeed been going to Mt. Sinai hospital where she was getting counseling as well as methadone.
Six months after her parents turned her away, her father asked Carrick to finally come home and surprise her mother for mother’s day.
It is impossible to say whether Carrick will stay clean and live a life of sobriety but when she turned 20 in August, it was clear that things were moving in the right direction.
In September, a little more than a year after we started this story, the family went camping —together again after so many years apart.
This fall, Carrick registered for English classes at a New York college.
But perhaps the biggest step in her recovery was her willingness to join her mother and speak to other addicts, parents, and families, about her own drug addiction.
"I haven’t felt this satisfied and happy and proud of myself possibly ever, and really at peace with who I am as a person ever," Carrick said. "This is like a whole new life for me."
And her parents say they will always be there for her little girl.
"I’m just happy that she’s at where she’s at right now. That’s all I can hope for. I can’t control what’s going to happen tomorrow. I’m just happy to see the space she’s in today," says Thom.
Deirdre agrees: "She’s sober today— so that’s wonderful. She’s got today. That’s all we’ve got."
- Discuss Story On Newsvine
-
Rate Story:
View popularLowHigh - Instant Message
MORE FROM DATELINE |
 Dateline Section Front |
| Add Dateline headlines to your news reader: |
Sponsored links
Resource guide