He did it to himself

Editor,

December 2012, my son lost a finger in a work accident. He had surgery to remove the finger. He was put on morphine. At this point Danny had 12 years clean and sober.

Within 30 days, his drug dealer threw him out in front of his home thinking he was dead. When Danny’s wife came home from work she found him, hallucinating, seeing things, hearing voices. He was screaming, “give me another hit.” Unable to control him she called the police, who called an ambulance.

He was in ICU for 14 days, on life support, bleeding from both liver and kidneys. The family was called in as he wasn’t going to live. He had huge blood blisters at the end of every finger and toe filled with blood as big as a golf ball, filled with blood. The doctors said that was a sign of dying. Blood settles in the lower places.

From here he went into a 29-day rehab program. The minute he was released he went right back to meth. When he was home he’d take a fish knife and scrape away the scabs which had formed inside his nose, so that he could snort again.

Danny was snorting meth. He’d put out a line of meth. Then with a plastic straw, he’d light the end of the straw and inhale the meth through the lighted end. The meth was on fire and burning when he inhaled. It would burn his nose. His nose was bloody raw and bleeding profusely.

Danny had a $280,000 home, $20,000 still financed. He sold his truck for $500 to his drug dealer. Finally, it was repossessed after more than eight months. He lost his home, his wife, his truck. Sold everything he could carry out. Went from 300 pounds to under 140. He was on disability but wasn’t interested in doing what it took to keep that going. All he wanted was the drug. Nothing else.

Now, over a year later he sleeps in the alley ways on the ground. Too sick to do whatever one does to support a drug habit such as this. He’s too sick to walk to the soup lines. One of these morning he will be found dead.

Pegi Handley
Porterville