Intervention

Episode 10: Kelly F. & Mark

June 12, 2005 • 43 min

This story, presented from the Intervention angle, will be an emotional look into the true crisis moment of an upper-middle class family from picturesque Huntington Beach trying to "save their son from certain death." Once lovable and talented, Kelly scored well above the genius level with a 160 in Abstract Reasoning on his IQ test. However, Kelly suffers from severe dyslexia and scored a 40 in language. Placed into emotionally and mentally challenged classes as a child, Kelly's family went on to sue the Malibu School System and prevailed - but not before Kelly had lost all of his self-esteem and hopes of a normal education. The grandchild of legendary comedian Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester on "The Addam's Family"), the now 23-year-old Kelly is a bright, creative and engaging young man - who sleeps in the bushes and uses the jail as a revolving door. Once an athlete excelling in rollerblading, Kelly was recently robbed of his blades while passed out in a park. The story will open as we join Kelly's family searching for him as he has disappeared again on a binge -- the search will start at the local hospitals and jails. The family, in their own words below, sees Intervention as the last hope for their son. Holding Kelly's beloved dog as leverage in the local pound, Leslie and Rob are committed to getting Kelly into treatment at any cost. This 49-year-old good-looking graduate from Texas Christian University sold commercial real estate and had a promising future. Now, he is addicted to prescription pain medication including heavy amounts of the narcotic, oxycontin. Part of a growing epidemic of back pain sufferers in America abusing prescription medication, Mark has undergone seven spinal surgeries that his family is not sure he needed - seemingly to get more medication. Tracing the roots of his problems to a motorcycle accident at the age of 15 (he suffered a broken arm and whiplash), Mark claims he has been dealing with failed back syndrome ever since. Mark takes high doses of medication each day including 240 mg of dezerol, 360 mg of oxycontin, 120 mg of roxycodone and either Paxil, Xanax or Trazodone, on top of a morphine drip that he has implanted in his back. Denying his family access to his doctors or medical records, Mark admits that the amount of medication he takes would kill most people. And, on top of all these pills, Mark also steals oxycontin from his wife who is dying of Stage 4 Bone Cancer - she was given 2 months to live in December of 2004. Mark has agreed to speak about his life and the medication he takes. Facing Mark in his denial is certain to be emotional and explosive - and truly the final chance for his dying wife, Carolyn, to see her husband clean.