"Tonys Story"


Tony was born on 20 August 1981, the youngest boy of three sons born to Michelle and Gary.

Born and brought up in Aberdeen, Tony was a typical 'cheeky, but likeable' little boy, always up to mischief.  On one occasion, while playing on service pipes on a building site near his home, he fell off resulting in a fractured leg and tears!
Tony
Unfortunately, this meant that he missed a considerable time from school, a time his mum believes he never really caught up with and this left him with writing difficulties.  This embarrassed Tony.  It was a problem that he did not want to admit to and he shunned help.

This problem followed him into Secondary School and his mum saw her once 'larger than life' son gradually become more and more withdrawn.  He showed less interest in school, and even as a 15 year old he convinced himself he would never get a job because of his writing difficulties.

Around this time, his eldest brother admitted to his mum and dad that he was using drugs.  They were devastated.

A year on and they had no idea, at that time, what to do or who to turn to for help.  One day his mum had a phone call from school, he had been found with a bottle of green liquid, which turned out to be the Heroin substitute, Methadone.  Tony denied the Methadone was for him.  He claimed that it belonged to a friend in his class.  His mum and dad believed him.

Within weeks, Tony's life spiralled downward.   He was expelled from school, his parents' faith in Tony was shattered.  Their eldest son broke the devastating news that all three of their boys were addicted to Heroin.  A neighbour caught Tony breaking into her car to steal the stereo for money for drugs.  Despite all the support his mum and dad could give, as well as help from his Doctor, Tony continued to use Heroin.  He lost his cheeky good looks, his infectious sense of humour, instead he became a very sad and lonely young man.  Most of his pals had abandoned him because of his drug taking.  He spent more and more time alone in his bedroom listening to music.

Determined that her two younger sons would not steal from others to pay for their drug addiction, and also believing that she could ration their habit, Tony's mum made the decision to pay for her sons' drugs.  This often amounted to more than £600 a month.  She very quickly learned the language of addicts.  What a 'score' was.  How much a 'bag' cost.  What 'the 'buzz' and the 'rattle' meant.  What it felt like to have no money.

Tony died on Tuesday 6 July 1999.  His mum had been at work when she felt mothers' intuition, something was far wrong.  She phoned home, but got no reply.  She immediately left work and drove home.  She found Tony and his brother collapsed in their bedroom.  She knew straight away that Tony was dead and found his brother only barely alive.  Both had injected and overdosed on Heroin, the needle was still in Tony's arm.

Tony was 17 years and 11 months old when he died.

His brothers continue to use Heroin.
Even at a young age Tony was popular with the girls and was never short of girlfriends.  Like his brothers, Tony was also a keen sportsman, particularly enjoying swimming and winning his fair share of medals and trophies.

At the age of 11 Tony was diagnosed as suffering from an eyesight problem which led to a series of operations over the course of a year.