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I probably shouldn't tell this tale, as it's really not mine to tell... but what the hell, this is not likely to be read by those involved.

I knew a man who had a pretty serious substance abuse problem in his youth- I've never gotten the details, but apparently it was some pretty hardcore stuff as he was exposed to Hepatitis C in the process. By the time I met him he had already done jail time for repeat DWI offenses and had a history of quitting or getting fired.

He married a woman whose father had been an alcoholic, and after a time she hectored him into stopping drinking. All seemed well and good, I suppose- except that what she didn't know was that he took to things other than alcohol after that.

He died in his forties of a brain aneurysm that stopped his breathing and his heart long enough to kill most of his brain. Apparently he was taking some form of opiates, overdosed and that triggered the aneurysm.

As I observed in another thread, some people are just plain bound to go to hell in their own way, and there's nothing you can do to stop them.

I do wonder, though, what would have happened if she hadn't hectored him into quitting drinking. Might he still be alive now?
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Tue 23 Dec 2008, 15:19, Reply)