Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Matthew's Story

Alone, running scared in the dark night, a Local 63 member’s young life was suddenly and tragically cut short. His story has much to teach us about the disease of addiction.

Matthew Manuel had a lot going for him—intelligent, kind, talented. He was a very active, fit young man. Hockey, curling, sledding, kayaking, camping, and hunting—Matthew loved them all. He was involved with the Duke of Edinburgh Leadership Programme. He also loved to help people and volunteered for Hockey Day in Canada, MADD, and the Canadian Diabetes Association.

He was a talented musician, a natural who could play the piano, drums, guitar, and harmonica. He had a beautiful voice and would sing with his mom at home. He was active in his church where he played bass guitar on the worship team.

He played in the high school band in Sherwood Park, Alberta. Together with friends from school, they formed their own band, the Funk Machine. They made it to the finals in an Alberta talent search competition where they played at Capital Ex in Edmonton. Their band also appeared on Breakfast Television.

He won a gold medal in a grade nine science competition and took home the bronze medal in the regionals. He was also the recipient of music awards when he attended music camps. He had a heart of gold and always looked for ways to help others, encouraging them to follow their dreams.

But during the last few years of his life, Matthew walked the complex road of recovery from addiction, despite being raised in a home where alcohol was not part of the family’s lifestyle. His story has much to teach us about the disease of addiction and the struggles those suffering from it face.

We spoke with Darlene Manuel, Matthew’s mother, to learn about how his bright young life turned so quickly, so dramatically, and so tragically.

When did Matthew begin to change, and what led to his change?

Early in grade 12, I could start to see a small change in Matthew—changes that made me question if he was using marijuana. I did have a mom-and-son conversation regarding my observations and concerns. In March 2009, he met a girl who was different from his other girlfriends. He said he was going to help this girl. “Mom, she doesn’t even know the Lord’s Prayer.” That’s how it started. He reached out to try to help her, and I was worried that Matthew thought he was stronger than he was. And it wasn’t long. Within six weeks, I could see a significant change in him. I could see both as a mom and as a nurse. At that time, Matthew agreed to see a counsellor. As a mom, I reached out to the Shepell employee and family assistance program and my church pastor.

Matthew was doing well in school right up until Easter of that year. When he got his marks, I noticed that he still had a 75 percent average, but I also realized that he had missed some days at school, five days total from March until April. By the end of grade 12, Matthew had missed a total of 21-and-a-half school days that we were not aware of. Just like that his behaviour started to change. He did continue to see a counsellor.

It broke our hearts to see him change, and he changed so quickly. When you’re an alcoholic or a drug addict, it doesn’t take long for that “addict brain” to be triggered, to be pulled toward alcohol or drugs. He tried getting involved with the church again, and in July 2009, he went to youth camp. One of the leaders called and said, “Matthew’s really got a drug problem. He needs help.”

We went to the church camp and got him, and we took him to a hospital. He told us that he had been taking morphine and oxycodone, drinking vodka, and smoking marijuana. We arranged an intervention within days, and he accepted help.

How long was he in treatment?

He went to a treatment centre in BC for three months, and he came back in October 2009. He did well for a while and then he relapsed again in December, and he ended up moving out on his own.

Then he met a lovely girl; she was a big part of his life. Over the next couple of years, his life was a story of really good months, followed by relapse, good again, and then relapse.

We adopted Matthew when he was a baby and we didn’t know a lot of his birth dad’s history, so we don’t know if genetics played a part in his addiction. So many factors influence and pull people to addiction. It’s a disease. It’s not like, okay, I’m going to stop tomorrow. People think they can, but every day is another day in recovery for the rest of your life. It’s chronic.

Matthew was just 22 years old and he had to learn to live with this horrible disease. It broke my heart, seeing how hard he would try. He would come back from his meetings some nights from AA and say, “Mom, what an awesome meeting tonight!” He would share little bits and I was so glad to hear him in a positive mood. And then he would relapse and it would just take him down this hole. I would attend my Al-Anon meetings as part of my work. I discovered I was co-dependant—and that was not helping Matthew.

What would trigger his relapses?

So he was working through all of this. He was functioning and working and paying his own way. He’d come by the house and we’d have meals together, and he’d play his guitar around the campfire in our backyard. But I knew he was still having his ups and downs with addiction.

In December 2012, there was a major trigger in his life. He and his girlfriend hiked, kayaked, camped, and did other outdoors things, even though he was living with this disease of addiction. For three years, his life wasn’t all just being on a roller coaster. He was functioning and he was seeking help for his addictions and going to meetings.

But he had another relapse when they both came home on December 25, 2012. The four of us had a beautiful Christmas dinner together. They drove back to Sherwood Park from Calgary that same day, and the next day Matthew’s girlfriend went to work, and he had a couple of drinks. She had previously told him that the next time you do this, I’m gone. And she held true to her word. She left. She still cared for him, but she would not be part of that lifestyle anymore.

He called us and shared how he had just lost the love of his life. We got in the car and by the time we got to his place in Sherwood Park, he’d had quite a few drinks. He was grieving the loss of the life he had with his girlfriend. We stayed with him and within a few days he started doing better. We went out for dinner and he said, “Mom, dad, I’m sick. I need help.”

Bob [Darlene’s husband] got on a plane with Matthew to BC for treatment at Edgewood, which was the best place we had heard of for addiction treatment. He was there until April 2013.

What did he do when he came back?

He lived with us until he could find his own apartment. He knew he had to get away from the environment he was previously in. He never did get his own apartment, but Matthew and Bob did look at many places.

He seemed to be doing okay, even if he still had his relapse moments, and he started going back to work with Flint [Flint Industrial Construction Ltd.] in northern Alberta in the oilsands. He stayed in camp and it was a dry camp. We thought this was perfect because they can’t have alcohol or drugs there.

He started flying in and out, two weeks in, one week out. The week out we learned that he was doing well. He was going to his AA meetings. But in August he relapsed, and we offered to take him back to treatment. He said, “No, mom, I’m okay. I screwed up.” And he got back to doing well and continuing to work.

What happened to him on the night that he died?

We were told he called the report line to say he would not be at work for his scheduled night shift. He left his room and he was seen by a security guard, who noticed that Matthew’s voice was slurred and that he was unsteady.

They removed Matthew from camp at midnight and dropped him off at a hotel in downtown Fort McMurray at 1:30. He texted “I’ve been canned” to one of his co-workers on the way to Fort McMurray.

After being dropped off at the hotel, he went to his room, and then shortly afterward left the premises. Police reports said that Matthew proceeded to get into a truck with some individuals with a criminal background. These individuals drove him to an ATM and he made a withdrawal.

Surveillance video shows the individuals in the truck watching Matthew enter his PIN. Shortly after that, he was with them in their truck on the other side of town. According to the police reports, Matthew was next seen running on a construction site a little before 4:15 in the morning. The police think that he was robbed and was running away from these people that were in the truck with him. He ran onto a construction site to hide from them. He was intoxicated. His blood alcohol level came back at three times the legal limit, even though he presumably hadn’t had a drink since around 9:30 that night when he was at camp.

The security guard on the site heard somebody running and saw Matthew and called out to him. Matthew, in his drunken state, may have thought it was the people chasing him. The police think that because it was night maybe Matthew thought the dark elevator shaft was a room that he could go into and hide. That’s where the RCMP found him. At the bottom of the shaft, four levels down. Everything that could have gone wrong that night went wrong.

Did they find the people who chased him?

When Matthew jumped out of the truck, he left his wallet, his cellphone, and everything that belonged to him. So, when they found him, he had no ID. We were later told by the police that there were two individuals in the truck with Matthew, a guy and a girl.

The guy who robbed him went right to the bank and started using Matthew’s debit card. He took out all of his money over a period of days. That’s how they found out that the driver of the truck was the same person who emptied Matthew’s bank account.

His accident happened early Sunday morning. Monday was Thanksgiving Day. Bob and I texted Matthew, sharing with him how thankful we were for him. We were telling him that in the text, not realizing that he had died the day before. We were still thinking that Matthew was on site. No one told us that he was being removed from the camp. Nobody followed up on him. Nobody called him or called us to tell us Matthew was intoxicated, and do you want to come and get him? They had our phone number.

My feeling is that because it wasn’t diabetes or some other physical problem, he was treated differently. It was because of his addiction that he was released from camp. I felt that they looked at him like he was a nuisance, so let’s get him off site. They dropped him off all alone, at 1:30 in the early morning hours, in a strange city where he knew no one, and they never checked on him. Never checked to see if he got on the bus. Never checked to see if he got home. Never called me, his mom, to say, “I'm worried about Matthew. We removed him from the site because he was intoxicated.”

We believe that if we had been contacted, we could have made a difference to him that fateful night. We were close with Matthew and he likely needed someone familiar who knew his struggles to lean on.

Monday morning some cleaning guys went to collect garbage in downtown Fort McMurray. It’s there that they found Matthew’s driver’s license and his ID thrown on the ground. The guy who robbed him threw away the items he didn't need. That’s how they identified our son, through his photo ID on his licence, thrown on the ground beside the garbage can.

How did you find out that Matthew had died?

Forty-two hours after Matthew’s accident, the police came. It was 11:30 Monday night. We got a knock at the door, and the young police officer said, “Do you have a son named Matthew?” He said he had been in an accident on a construction site. We were thinking it was on his job with Flint and something had happened at work.

I was hysterical. I remember running back to the police car in bare feet with my pyjamas on screaming at the police officer. I can’t recall what came out of my mouth but I’m sure it was just denial and mad, angry words.

Shortly after, Victim Services arrived at our door to offer support. Bob started making calls and that’s when we found out that Matthew had been removed from site two days earlier. Flint had no idea that after they removed him from site, he never made it home. They were not aware of his accident and do not appear to have made efforts to follow up with Matthew after dropping him off at the hotel to ensure that he was safe.

How have you coped?

It’s been very hard for both Bob and I. Matthew was our only child. We loved him so much. Life will never be the same for us. I have coped with the help of my faith, close friends, and family. I have been through therapy to help me find my purpose to carry on.

I remember the place when I felt Matthew’s presence. The word HOPE came so clear. Matthew spoke to me: “Mom, HOPE—Help Open Peoples Eyes to addiction.” That was it! We want what happened to Matthew to make a difference for others. That’s what he would have wanted. He was always helping others.

We want to ensure that there are policies in place so that people who find themselves in a similar situation are taken care of. We want companies to make changes so that going forward every person—no matter what their physical or mental health issue—is treated with dignity and respect. Addiction needs to be looked at as the disease that it is, and those suffering from it should be treated no differently than if they had some physical ailment.

I am grateful for CLAC’s assistance. They let Matthew’s story be told to encourage those who struggle with addictions to reach out for help. I think it will help CLAC stewards to be aware of the struggles people with addictions face so they can advocate for employees in this situation.

How did the Matthew Manuel Memorial Branch of Hope Award come about?

We were contacted by Wayne Prins [CLAC executive director]. He shared that Matthew’s previous employer had donated a sum of money, and CLAC was asked to direct and set up a scholarship fund in his memory.

Wayne asked for our input for the criteria and to name this award. As Matthew’s mom and dad, we also financially contribute to this annual award in honour of our son. We were grateful for the call and that through this award and sharing Matthew’s story, we can draw attention to the disease of addictions. This was the beginning of the Matthew Manuel Memorial Branch of Hope Award.

We need to HOPE—Help Open People’s Eyes to addiction—including those in management and leadership positions. We need to call addiction what it is: a disease. We need to take away the stigma. People with addictions are human beings who have moms, dads, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, sons, and daughters. They have lives but they have ups and downs and relapses, and they need to do work with our help, understanding, and compassion. Their life matters. Their story matters. They matter.

When Matthew was in Grade 10, one his teachers wrote him a note that said, “May your tree of life continue to grow many branches, each with a different story to tell.” Matthew’s life ended at 22, but the branches of his tree of life continue to grow.

We have kept Matthew’s memory alive to encourage others. Matthew had a passion for music. We bought four guitars for the Salvation Army camp at Pine Lake, and they hold an annual arts and music camp, which includes awarding a trophy to the winner of various competitions, one being the Matthew Manuel Memorial Senior Guitar Award. We sponsored a child through World Vision and asked for a male child in honour of Matthew. We’ve also sponsored a student at Teen Challenge, which is a faith-based centre for men who struggle with addictions, and donated Matthew’s truck. The Matthew Manuel Memorial Branch of Hope Award, offered with help and support from CLAC, is yet another branch of Matthew’s Tree of Life, which continues to grow.

Has Matthew’s story made a difference?

In the notes he kept while he was in treatment, Matthew wrote that we need to help others who maybe don’t have the courage to get help. “I pray that God’s will be done in my life and that I may be a vessel to speak what someone needs to hear,” he wrote.

By telling Matthew’s story, we hope that we can help those struggling with addiction find that courage, to let them know that it’s okay to reach out for help. But we also hope that his story will give all of us as a society the courage to care and not to simply dismiss people who struggle with addictions. We need to keep them safe. We need to have the same courage to help them as they do to seek help.

Each person with addiction has his or her own story, and it’s important to share this story. The more we share, the more people will understand. When I met the first recipient of the Matthew Manuel Branch of Hope Memorial Award, his courage to come forward and tell his story inspired me. I learned that one of the guys who worked with Matthew, after he heard what happened, admitted that he too struggles with addictions, and he got help.

I don’t want others to have to go through what Matthew did, to be all alone, walking into a hotel in the middle of the night by himself, intoxicated, nobody there to help him, nobody to talk to him. It tears me up to think that he probably thought that we were called, that we knew, that we would be there when he would be dropped off in Fort McMurray. We had no idea.

And that’s why we tell his story. No one should have to go through what Matthew went through that night.

The Science of Addiction

In the 1930s, scientists believed addiction was a moral flaw. Those who were addicted simply lacked the willpower to stop.

Punishment, rather than treatment, was society’s response, leading to high incarceration rates of addicts.

Today, brain imaging and research into brain chemistry have shown conclusively that addiction is a disease, so our approach to helping those suffering from an addiction should be no different than for those suffering from other diseases. Continuing to stigmatize addiction as a moral flaw only ensures that those who need help are less likely to get it.

While great progress has been made in identifying addiction as a disease, science has been better at figuring out what’s gone wrong than at fixing it. Recovery is a complex road, with two lanes of thought.

One lane seeks to fix the faulty wiring through medication and other techniques, with counselling as a support. The other lane supports counselling first, with medical treatment as a support to reduce withdrawal symptoms.

Both approaches fall short, and much more research is still needed. Here is what science has taught us so far about the disease of addiction.

It All Feels Good

The human brain is wired to ensure survival.
Life-sustaining behaviours such as eating and sex release the neurotransmitter dopamine, which rewards these behaviours with feelings of pleasure.
The brain doesn’t distinguish between different types of pleasure—it all feels good.
Drugs interfere with the normal release and processing of dopamine.
Some drugs mimic dopamine but activate the brain’s neurons differently, leading to abnormal messaging and behaviours.
Some drugs release two to ten times the amount of dopamine as during eating or sex, greatly amplifying pleasure messages.

Rewired for Addiction

To the brain, excess dopamine is often described as the difference between someone whispering and someone shouting.
This strong reinforcement of the brain’s reward centre is why users seek to do it again.
The brain compensates by producing less dopamine or reducing the number of dopamine receptors.
More and more of the substance is needed to overcome the brain’s compensation, or tolerance.
Without the overstimulation caused by the substance, normal rewards no longer appeal to addicts, and they feel flat, lifeless, and depressed.
Addiction rewires brain anatomy and chemistry affecting desire, habits, pleasure, learning, motivation, emotional control, and thought processing.
Addiction rewires the brain to see the substance as having far greater value than other aspects of life such as health, work, hobbies and interests, relationships—and even life itself.
The addict’s brain loses self-control and the ability to make sound life decisions while struggling against an intense desire to take drugs.

Addiction Is Learned

“In a sense, addiction is a pathological form of learning,” according to Antonello Bonci, a neurologist and scientific director at the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Dopamine interacts with another neurotransmitter (glutamate) to activate the brain’s learning and memory centres—a key to transitioning from liking something to becoming addicted.
When the reward centre is activated, the brain remembers and teaches the user to repeat the action without thinking.
Repeated exposure causes the brain’s “pleasure centre” (the nucleus accumbens) to talk with the prefrontal cortex in a way that turns liking a drug into wanting it into needing it into doing anything for it.
Learning is also reinforced by the world around the user, which is why addicts are so easily triggered into relapse by people, places, and events as well as sights, sounds, and smells—even years after being drug free.

Vulnerability to Addiction

Vulnerability varies from person to person, depending on risk factors.
The likelihood of developing an addiction is directly linked to the speed of which a substance releases dopamine, its intensity, and the reliability of repeating the experience, which is why smoking and injecting drugs is more likely to lead to addiction.
Genetics account for 40-60% of vulnerability to addiction.
Teens/those with a mental illness are at greater risk.
The earlier in life a person begins to use, the greater the risk of developing an addiction.
Drugs interfere with the normal development of the prefrontal cortex in teens, which is responsible for keeping emotions and desires in check.
Life transitions (divorce, job loss) also greatly increase risk for addiction.

Sources: Harvard Health Publications, National Geographic, drugabuse.gov

It Takes Courage

Addicts need our help, understanding, and, most of all, our compassion. It takes a lot of courage to admit you need help for a disease that is still wrongly viewed by many as a moral flaw. To help, CLAC, together with Flint Industrial Construction Ltd., Matthew’s employer, and Darlene and Bob Manuel, his parents, created the Matthew Manual Memorial Branch of Hope Award, a $1,000 annual award, with the winner selected at random from qualified nominations. The winner of the 2016 award, the first award given, was Rocco MacKinnon, a Local 63 member.

Getting Help

In 2010, CLAC recognized the importance of supporting our members struggling with substance-related issues or drug/alcohol violations at work in a more personal and tangible way by creating the Substance Abuse Case Management (SACM) program. Since its inception, the SACM program has employed skilled professionals who are trained to guide and support CLAC members needing help. These dedicated case managers personally work with members in the following ways:

Supporting them through referrals to substance abuse experts who assess and diagnose substance use disorders

Helping them access resources for treatment and recovery

Helping them with their application for short term disability, substance abuse subsidy, and other available funding

Monitoring aftercare recommendations once a member has returned to work

Members can be referred by their employer, CLAC representative, or steward or can self-refer into the program.

For any questions or referrals, please don’t hesitate to contact a CLAC substance abuse case manager at 877-863-5154 or SACM@clac.ca.

Magic Wand

Researchers are conducting studies on controlling addictions using brain stimulation with the use of a device that’s nothing more than coiled wire inside a wand. The wand creates a pulse that changes electrical activity in the part of the brain’s prefrontal cortex that inhibits behaviour.

A small trial in Italy of cocaine addicts found that 11 out of 16 subjects who underwent brain stimulation were drug free after the trial compared to only 3 out of 13 subjects who received standard care. The technique is known as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Researchers around the world are testing TMS to help people quit drinking, smoking, gambling, binge eating, and doing drugs. Could it be possible that one day we can make addictions go away with the wave of a magic wand?

Source: National Geographic

Matthew's Story

The Science of Addiction

It Takes Courage

Getting Help

Magic Wand

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