The hardest thing a parent can face is when her child turns to drugs. My son Michael always tried to fit in and make friends. At the age of 16, he fell into the wrong crowd and was introduced to the world of drugs, alcohol and stealing to support his new lifestyle. He soon was in trouble at school and the law.

In 2001, he was involved in a head-on automobile collision. Before the accident he and his "friends" were drinking and using drugs. He was a passenger in the front seat, not wearing a seatbelt, and the only thing that saved their lives were the airbags.

Luckily the only injuries to Michael was a shattered hip and broken leg. Nobody died but Michael still suffers pain in his lower body to this day. At first I begged Michael to get help for his problem, but he always denied he had a problem and said he could quit anytime he wanted.

During the time he was using he met back up with his childhood sweetheart, from the mountains, and they moved in together. Shortly afterward, they had their first child, Anthony, and soon after that they moved back up to the mountains. Not long after they moved back to the mountains, they had a baby girl named Autumn.

During the time up there he was introduced to crack, meth and speed and was getting into more and more trouble with the law. He was beginning not to be able to function in daily life and relationships. Drugs and alcohol had completely taken over his life.

It felt like the jail had a revolving door just for Michael, he was in and out so much they knew him on a first-name basis. Every time he would call from jail, I would bail him out no questions asked. The drugs were getting so bad and his life so out of control he did not have any idea what was going on. Nothing mattered but the drugs.
When he wasn't calling to be bailed out of jail he would call to borrow money for "his children's needs" which was a lie and would buy drugs with it instead. From 2005-2006, Michael attempted suicide multiple times. I did not know about the first or second attempt until he tried a third time when the doctors informed me of the others.

This time he was put on a ventilator and the doctor told me to prepare for the worst, that there was a good chance he may die. A couple of weeks after he was discharged from the hospital, Michael attempted suicide again and was put back on a ventilator. This time he almost succeeded, the doctors had a difficult time weaning him off of the ventilator. By the grace of God he survived and went back up to the mountains.

By this time I was mentally and emotionally exhausted and had to do the hardest thing a parent could do, give him tough love and separate myself from the situation and stop enabling his drug problem. April 9th he called again from jail asking to be bailed out, this time I said no.

I told him he was going to listen to me for a change. I let him know how he had hurt me and his family. How I no longer had any trust in him because of his lying and drug use. We talked by phone for a couple more weeks while he was in jail. He started to realize how messed up he was and how the drugs had taken over his life.

He wanted to leave Grand County and come back down here to Northglenn to get help and start a new life. The first week in May I went up to bail him out and bring him back home. I laid down the ground rules, which he agreed were a lot worse than being in jail, and early the next morning he called Arapahoe House.

The first words he said on the phone were "I need help."

In June he was admitted to the inpatient program for four weeks. Now he is in the outpatient program going to AA/CMA meetings on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and taking random UA's. On Aug. 20, 2006 Michael has been clean and sober for 126 days. In October will be his six month anniversary for being clean and sober, we are counting the days.

He now knows it's a choice and is choosing clean and sober for himself, his children and his family.

Nancy Pfaff is the mother of Michael De Luzio.