Ann's Blog on Meth addict:
anns blog #5:
"Meth Addict who made documentary dies" (cnn.com, March 27, 2007)
The man in the picture, Shawn Bridges who wrote a documentary on the terrible effects of meth and has recently died. His documentary, "No More SUnsets" was written about his addiction to meth and all of the terrible things he went through during this addiction. HIs father said many things about him in the article. He told of how Shawn wanted so badly and worked so hard to tell his story to warn others about how meth can rouin your life. He wanted to get the word out to young people and help prevent other people from becoming addicted. He was only 35 years old, but all of the terrible things that he went through made his body age much faster than average. He had the body of an 80 year old. His family tells of how he has already pretty much died twice. I guess the meth had damaged his heart so much that it had stopped a couple of times already and had to be shocked back to a beat. His documentary was released last year shows him pretty much bedridden with nothing but a catheter and a feeding tube. Shawns life began its spiral downward when he was only about four years old and his little brother, 1, was killed in a car accident. He then grew up to be a high school dropout who loved the party scene. At 26 Shawn had a heart attack, most likely because of the meth abuse and on several occasions tried to kill himself. He spent many months at a hospital at the end of his life where he was in really bad shape. He would cough up blood and couldn't really talk or eat (the eating thing obviously leading to problems). They are planning to do a sequel to Shawns documentary, telling about the last year of his life and having interviews of the people touched by Shawn.
Battery Acid...YUM! Meth is a crazy crrrrrraaazy thing. Its hard for me to make any sense out of. I don't see how anyone with even a half functioning brain would want to try it. I understand curiousity in highs and effects of drugs (not saying that curiousity should have more power than common sense) but i don't even a slight bit understand someones thought process when they try meth. Hearing this guys story gets me all choked up. I guess i can see how the events of his childhood could have led him to this fate, but i just wish that his parents or friends could have taught him a better way to cope with things before it was too late. If only he could have realized taht he could life a satisfying and fulfilling life, then maybe he wouldn't have had to resort to drugs of any kind. In my mind, it all comes down to one little seemingly meaningless decision that lead him to the 'wrong croud'. and i go "crap, if only he could have gone to someone elses house that day in seventh grade after school to play video games rather than hang out with the ninth graders who gave him a cig. It makes me almost feel guilty, makes me wonder what i could do in my life to prevent someone from a similar fate as Shawns. I know thtat we could all make a difference to someone very easily by just showing them that we care. anyway, I really admire Shawn at the same time for getting out of the downward spiral with enough time to tell his story and warn others about the bad bad things about meth. I hope that he touches people who really need to hear him, i know he touched me. Just like the speaker we had come to our school last year who did the presentation on meth. I am so glad that taht man is dedicating the rest of his life to tell the world about the dangers of meth.To me, speakers who have experienced the terrible effects of meth are sucessful in convincing the public that meth is bad, because their storys are always so horrifying that people understand how terrible meth really is.
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posted by ann @ 4:34 PM
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