12 GoodLifeFamilyMag.com MAY | JUNE 2018 Very Inspiring Parent AWARD BY KARYN BRODSKY HOW ONE MOM TOOK HER GREATEST PAIN AND TURNED IT INTO HER LIFE MESSAGE When it comes to the death of a loved one, the loss of a child is possibly the most devastating. If one of the hardest parts of losing a child is living every day afterwards, how does a parent go on with life? For Richardson couple, Angie and David Rogers, the struggle is real. Yet somehow, they managed to find the strength to move forward after the drug overdose death of their 24-year-old son Brandon. Angie, along with David and Brandon’s twin sister,BlairMcCurdy,tirelessly and passionately promotes awareness of substance abuse and advocates for young people pursuing a sober lifestyle. Angie, a veterinarian, says she and David, a pharmacist, were blessed to have a wonderful son, affectionately called “Bubba,” who loved his family, was a loyal friend, had a warm spot for animals and loved sports, especially golf and basketball. Angie says her son was a “church kid” who was on the straight and narrow during his childhood. Unfortunately, his youthful indiscretion and rebellion led to drug addiction. A series of events that began with an incident in high school with alcohol, escalated to painkillers, prescription and over-the-counter drugs in college and then heroin, propelled Brandon and his family on the roller coaster of drug abuse and rehabilitation. After one instance when his parents found him drinking and wanted to teach him about the perils of alcohol, Brandon was sent to a Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) impact meeting to listen to abuse stories, an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting and the local police department. Sadly, it was not enough to keep Brandon’s abuse from spinning out of control. It wasn’t until Brandon was arrested at Plano East High School his junior year for buying Adderall at school, that Angie realized there was a big problem. He was sent to rehab during the summer between junior and senior year of high school and experienced some recovery. Angie says she fought to keep him at Plano East for his senior year but now regrets not knowing about Serenity High School (SHS), part of the McKinney Independent School District. Serenity, which serves all of Texas, is one of America’s longest tenured recovery high schools that is open to students who have completed a drug or alcohol rehab program. Though it was too late for Brandon, Angie became a member of the SHS board, so she could make others aware of what the school has to offer. At age 18 after his senior year of high school, Brandon had his tonsils out, which is a typically routineprocedureforayoungchild but can be particularly difficult for an adult. He was prescribed hydrocodone, semi-synthetic opioid synthesized from codeine for six weeks, which was the beginning of drug dependence. Brandon attended Blinn College in Bryan, TX with the hopes of transferring into Texas A&M, his dream school. Due to the easy access to drugs and alcohol, a college campus is not the best environment for someone battling addiction, and neither Blinn College nor Texas A&M had a collegiate recovery program at the time. Brandon moved from rehab centers, to the Salvation Army to the streets then back to school before joining the 24 Hour Club in Dallas, a sober living community. Angie helped start a once-a-week prayer group next door to the residence to be close to him. Life changed in 2014 when Blair, a veterinarian and A&M alum like her mom, got engaged and Brandon learned his girlfriend was pregnant. Though he wanted to be a part of his child’s life and agonized over the decision to put the child up for adoption, Brandon ultimately helped select the adoptive parents for his son, Brennan. In the fall of 2015, Brandon left his sober living community after the death of a friend by overdose. He had been sober for 4 ½ months, but her funeral was the day he started using drugs again. On November 3, 2015, at the age of 24, Brandon was found dead at the apartment of an acquaintance, the victim of a heroin overdose. Though grief stricken, Angie wasted no time in speaking out as an advocate. A dear friend established a scholarship at Texas A&M in Brandon’s memory. Funded by the Collin County Aggie From Grief to Growth Angie and Blair (Brandon’s twin sister) at the Association of Former Students at Texas A & M University when the Brandon Rogers Endowed Memorial Scholarship was given to start the Aggie Recovery Community. Continued on page 14