Drug and alcohol addiction and abuse. Recognition. Prevention. Treatment
20/20 Parenting. Recognizing and mitigating early vulnerabilities and risk factors.
Letters to Kerry
Stories of Victory, Struggle, Tragedy, & Workplace Concerns
May 28, 2005:
An amazing and wonderful reconnection thanks to a Province newspaper article about our story, as well as the Now TV, Online show interview I gave! - K
Dear Kerry, my name is Aaron Sigmund; I just wanted to say I am very sorry for your loss of your precious son. I believe I met you and Ryan some time in spring 2001 around Mothers Day. The circumstance was, you had made some arrangements to have some recovering meth addicts come and share their experience, strength, and hope with Ryan while he was in the psychiatric unit ... You picked us up ... myself and 2 girls and we drove out there.
At the time I had 4 months clean and sober from IV heroin, cocaine, and meth use. Not knowing what to expect when we arrived at the hospital, the whole way out I was asking god for the words to help me carry the message to Ryan. When we arrived at the hospital, and were joined by your mother and brother. Sitting in the room with the doctor, Ryan seemed reluctant to join us at first but soon came in. We all told a bit of our stories, and Ryan seemed open to us.
I just have to tell you that at that moment in my sobriety I was on the fence, to stay clean or not, and sharing my experience with Ryan helped me get out of myself and inspire me to work with others. Still to this day I share the experience of that day and how it kept me sober. That day was so powerful for me.
I wish we could have stayed in touch after that but I had moved soon after from the recovery house where I was staying to a new facility in South Surrey called the Launching Pad Recovery house. I was their first client. Today I am on their board of directors. I’m the father of a 3-year old boy, have a good job and I’m a productive member of society and have received an award from the Mayor of Surrey for my triumph over homelessness and my work with others without shelter.
I would just like to tell you how proud I am of what you are doing and the remarkable amount of awareness you have brought to the community. I know there is no way I could have achieved what I have, and be where I am today, without working with wonderful people like Ryan (and myself as I used to be).
Aaron Sigmund
NOTE: Aaron has asked to join me in future speaking engagements. He is one of the lucky few who make it out of heavy drug use. Crystal meth was not his main substance, fortunately for him as he seems to have made a full recovery. We met recently and you would never know that he had ever used any drugs...he looks so healthy and speaks so well. I look forward to getting to know him and working with him as a 20/20 Parenting contributor. - K
