Parents form addiction support group

Editor's note: This story originally ran on April 25, 2002 as part of the Daily Herald's "Hidden Scourge: Heroin in the Suburbs" series.

Heroin not only brought Joe McKirchy and Nick Blasucci together, it bonded their parents as well.

After discovering the boys' heroin use, the McKirchy and Blasucci families began an organization called Help End Addiction with Love, or HEAL.

The group, formed in October, offers a support network for families grappling with teen addictions. It has become a harbor for parents who otherwise are too embarrassed or scared to talk about their children's drug use.

Those same fears prompted Danny McKirchy to reach out to the Blasuccis after Joe's heroin arrest last April. Like Nick and Joe, the adults lived on the same block for years but never socialized.

Three months after the arrest, Danny McKirchy saw an ambulance outside the Blasucci home. He walked over and asked Rick Blasucci if everything was OK.

"My son just overdosed on heroin," he said.

Danny told him about Joe's arrest and subsequent rehabilitation. He offered to give Rick the names of other heroin users in the neighborhood.

It felt good to talk about Joe's problems, Danny says. Before confiding in the Blasuccis, he and his wife, Diane, seemed alone in their heartache.

"I was totally lost," Danny McKirchy said. "We had no one to talk to about it. We didn't know who we could turn to."

The Saturday after Nick's overdose, the McKirchys and Blasuccis met to discuss drug abuse in their neighborhood. They contend there are at least 14 heroin users within an eight-block radius of their street, an estimate local police say is accurate.

Theresa Blasucci went to many of the users' parents to tell them about her son's addiction. To her shock, many said they had known Nick was using heroin before he overdosed.

"We have an obligation to help each other as parents," she says. "And nobody bothered to tell me."

The stony reaction she received from some neighborhood parents prompted Theresa to accelerate HEAL's formation. The fledgling group - which has wasted no time getting organized - already has a Web site, weekly meetings, a prayer circle and plans for a second chapter in Hoffman Estates.

The group also will be sponsoring a tour of the DuPage County jail later this month. The trip is intended to warn teens about the consequences of using drugs.

"I think what they're doing is great," said Glendale Heights police Sgt. Tony Mineo, who has been working with the group. "They could have looked the other way with these kids. It's common, but they didn't do it."

Eleven families now meet weekly on Thursdays at the Glen Oaks Therapeutic Day Center in Glen Ellyn. While there, teens talk with each other and a social worker about their drug use. In the rooms next door, their parents vent their frustrations and concerns without having to worry about their children's whereabouts.

The group also has blanketed local police departments and public buildings with information about HEAL and addiction. The organizers' persistence has resulted in new members and a second chapter.

When Blasucci contacted Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital for names of Northwest suburban substance abuse programs, the hospital was interested enough in HEAL's cause to offer meeting space.

The Hoffman Estates Hospital has seen heroin and Ecstasy use rise in the last two years as the drugs' prices dropped and availability increased. Last year the facility treated one or two kids for heroin addiction. This year, they've had eight patients so far.

"The need is there," said Dr. Whitney Belcher, coordinator of the outpatient adolescent chemical abuse program at the behavioral health hospital. "And with the community partnerships we have, we really needed to extend ourselves."

The only two people who question HEAL's existence are Nick and Joe. The teens support their parents' aims, but both say they're embarrassed to have their addictions discussed publicly.

Nick, in particular, found it difficult to tell his parents he had relapsed after they had boasted about his progress to so many people.

"It makes me feel so ashamed," he says. "I'm glad they care, but I wish they wouldn't bring me into it."

Their parents, while mindful of the teens' feelings, remain unrepentant. They intend to keep talking about drugs and warning others of the dangers.

They consider themselves in a race against heroin, a drug so powerful less than 50 percent of users recover successfully from it. Despite the odds, they don't intend to lose.

"If I had been this aggressive when I found out Nick was using marijuana," Theresa says, "things wouldn't have gotten this bad."

GRAPHIC: Support for parents with teenage addicts

Help End Addiction with Love offers a new support group aimed at helping parents cope with their teens' drug use. Here is when it meets:

In Hoffman Estates: Meets from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Mondays, starting May 6 at the Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital, 1650 Moon Lake Blvd. Call (847) 882-1600 for more info.

In Glen Ellyn: Meets from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. Thursdays at the Glen Oaks Adolescent Day Hospital, educational building, 1N450 Main St. Call (630) 469-3602 for more info.

Why: To provide an atmosphere for parents who have teens on drugs to discuss issues with parents in similar situations; and for teens who are on, or have been on drugs, to meet to discuss similar issues with their peers. The sessions are lead by a licensed social worker. In Hoffman Estates, the teen component will be added later.

Cost: Free

For information: Theresa or Rick Blasucci at (630) 682-0053, e-mail healaddiction@@aol.com or visit www.healaddiction.org