Welcome back to the peripheral. I know it's been a little while.

Some of you know I recently lost my sister. She was struggling with addiction and had some pretty

severe mental health issues. A lot of people have suggestions on how to deal with grief.

These suggestions range from taking long hikes on a mountain to walking on a sunny beach,

which I think are all great ideas.

But sometimes, I think, leaning into your grief and trying to understand it and hearing

other people's points of view of what they've been through can be very cathartic also.

With that said, today I talk with Sarah who lost her brother to addiction.

And if that wasn't terrible enough, she finds out another family member is struggling.

And when one family member struggles, obviously everyone is struggling.

This story resonated with me. I hope that anyone out there who is in distress or wrestling with addiction can hear this in Seaco.

I am Sarah Carody.

I'm the oldest of four siblings, two of which are addicts.

And I wanted to kind of share my experience about being a witness to, in a sibling of someone going through active addiction, recovery,

and ultimately the worst case scenario, which is death.

My brother passed away 10 years ago from his addiction and mental health issues. My sister is currently in recovery and not an active addiction, thankfully. What's your brother's name and how old was he when he died?

So my brother's name is Raymond, and he was 20 years old when he died. He had a really quick and hard

bout with his active addiction. His drug of choice was heroin, but anything and everything that he could get his hands on

he would take. It didn't really matter. It was just a matter of him getting it. I come from a

one-parent household because my father is also an active addict, and he has alcohol-induced dementia and in my opinion

there's no hope or help for him and there hasn't been for a long time.

Is he combative with you? Or does he just doesn't know what's going on at this point he's not

...