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Season 13

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Episode 184: Eric

By ⋅ August 17, 2014 ⋅ 55 comments

Season 13, Episode 5

eric

Eric
Age: 31
Location: New Bedford, Massachussettes
Addiction: Heroin
What’s memorable: The things he does for money, how crossed his eyes get when he’s loaded, the ex-girlfriend best friend that he’s hopelessly in love with. And I love that he’s grateful for the intervention as its happening. That’s rare.

Update:  Sadly, Eric McDonnell died of a heroin overdose on August 19th, 2017.  Here is his obituary. 

Official Synopsis: Eric, 31, has been known by his family for being funny, generous and full of life. But his downward spiral into addiction has replaced all of his amazing traits and turned him into a junkie who hustles, steals and pawns.

Original Air Date: July 2013
Interventionist: Donna

Episode 188: Ryan

By ⋅ July 14, 2013 ⋅ 31 comments

Season 13, Episode 3

Ryan
Age: 23
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Addiction: Heroin, Benzos
What’s memorable: Dude’s got some serious rage issues, turns into a violent asshole when his parents don’t give him what he wants, which is drugs or money for drugs. The equally addicted but in-denial mother, the oddly passive dad, the functional sister who seems to be the only one who fully sees what’s going on. And holy cow is her mother awful to her.

Official Synopsis: As a teenager, Ryan was on the fast track to professional BMX racing until his mother’s suicide attempt sidelined his life. Ryan turned to drugs to deal with the trauma and silence around it. Now, at 23, he lives in his parents basement using and dealing heroin, enabled by his parents’ inability to face or confront reality.

Original Air Date: June 2013
Interventionist:  Jeff

Episode 183: Dana

By ⋅ July 14, 2013 ⋅ 53 comments

Season 13 Episode 2

dana

Dana
Age: 33
Location: Alvin, Texas
Addiction: Pain killers, crack
What’s memorable: This is one of those addict stories that begins entirely with a horrendously traumatic incident. It’s also one where no one really blames her for becoming addicted and wanting to numb out. Few of us could ever imagine the pain that losing 3 children at one time would cause. It’s simply unfathomable. The fact that she still has one child left is her saving grace.

Official Synopsis: Once a vibrant supermom, Dana numbs the haunting memories of almost dying in an apartment fire with a dangerous cocktail of crack and prescription pills.

Original Air Date: June 2013
Interventionist: Candy

Episode 186: Jessica

By ⋅ July 14, 2013 ⋅ 71 comments

Season 13, Episode 1

jessica-13

Jessica
Age: 29?
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Addiction: Heroin
What’s memorable: Jessica seems like a really likable person trapped in an addiction that makes her unbearable. The house she squats in and her mother’s level of enabling are both pretty shocking.

Note: Jessica has commented below that she is doing well, and in the 4.10.16 episode (Karissa) there was a video update from her. She looks amazing and has custody of all of her kids, plus a new one! Congrats Jessica. So happy for you.

Official Synopsis: Jessica is smart as tack with a lust for life. Unfortunately, it’s the life of a heroin addict, living in an abandoned building, being shot up by a boyfriend, that she is committed to. Having spent her youth yearning for an absent, alcoholic father, Jessica followed the footprint of addiction left to her by her father, and now her own children are at risk of losing their mother.

Original Air Date: June 2013
Interventionist: Donna

Episode 187: Gina

By ⋅ July 13, 2013 ⋅ 42 comments

Season 13, Episode 4

gina

Gina
Age: 33
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Addiction: Heroin
What’s memorable: The mother, oh dear god the Mother. In contrast to Kaila, the other addict in this episode, no one watching this story would wonder for a second how or why Gina became an addict. A heroin addicted prostitute, to be specific. Not shocking. I feel nothing but sympathy for Gina and all she’s been through. Thank goodness her mother was able to see what she had done to her daughter and took responsibility for what happened.

Official Synopsis: Gina has spent her life living in the shadow of her domineering Korean mother, and it was not until she started using heroin that she was able to escape the most painful of her memories, being blamed by her mother for having been raped. Now, with absolutely no sense of self-worth, Gina will do anything to get her fix, even at the cost of losing her son.

Original Air Date: July 2013
Interventionist: Seth

Episode 187: Kaila

By ⋅ July 13, 2013 ⋅ 47 comments

Season 13, Episode 4

kaila

Kaila
Age: 19
Location: Los Gatos, California
Addiction: Anorexia
What’s memorable: She weighs 80 pounds, first of all. A smart and beautiful girl from an upper crust traditional family with decent parents: it’s hard to understand what went so wrong that she has to go to such extremes in order to feel loved, but no one knows what goes on in other peoples’ heads.  Kaila literally has days to live, but she feels powerful “going against the laws of nature.” It’s all very sad.

Official Synopsis: As a young girl, Kaila, 19, was raised in an affluent, image-conscious community where she felt teased for being overweight, and overlooked by her parents. Now, at a mere 80 pounds and eating only a few hundred calories a day, Kaila is literally starving herself to death to have what she’s always wanted–to be the center of her family’s attention. Her distraught parents have been told by Kaila’s doctors to prepare for her death, “Intervention is truly our last option,” says Kaila’s mother, “Please help us!”

Original Air Date: July 2013
Interventionist: Ken

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