Sarah Drinks 40 OUNCES of Vodka a Day to Cope With Earthquake Trauma | Intervention | A&E
Everybody loves being around Sarah. She’s everybody’s best friend. She loves kids. She really does. She has an awesome education. She’s a bright girl. But as soon she has that bottle in her hand, that’s when the worst side of Sarah comes out. SARAH: First drink is just like, you know, a relief, like, I have alcohol now, like, the rest of the day is fine. If I just want to get, like, a good buzz going and feel good for the whole day, I’ll stick to beer. Like, if I’m drunk enough tomorrow, yeah. We’re coming here and we’re
doing karaoke. SARAH: But if I actually want to not remember my night, then I’ll go vodka. That’s not water, by the way. Yeah, kind of. But, then again, I bought a beer so it kind of evens it out. KOLE: She doesn’t really get buzzed, it seems. It’s like, right when she’s buzzed she immediately gets drunk. Can you help me? Like, I just can’t– OK. This is not working out, like, at all. It’s like, she’s fine, and then all of a sudden she’s completely out of her mind. Yeah, we were gonna drive there, and now Sarah’s
too . Nothing new. SONIA: She’s put so much toxins into her body that her body won’t last much longer. SARAH: My
it. BRIAN: She basically thinks her body runs off alcohol. She thinks she’ll die tomorrow if she doesn’t get that next drink. I need it. Please? SONIA: You’ve got some– a lot of something in your system. Mom, please. VICKI: I’m afraid of what’ll happen if she keeps drinking. She will die. LEN: I remember at the hospital, when I held her for the first time, I made her a promise that I would never let anything hurt her or she would never go without. I remember just running around the house playing with her. Sarah was really good until
about high school. Sarah has always been very self-conscious about herself. SARAH: Like, I’ve always had like an issue with, like, self esteem, self confidence. I feel like every– every female can go see that. But, for me, I think I’m just, like, I’m way more strict on myself. When she was at school one day, one of the boys had called her fat. That’s when she decided that she was going to do something about it. SARAH: That’s when I kind of started, like, watching what I was eating, you know, counting calories. And I went, like, really overboard.
Sarah wants to be perfect. And I think Sarah feels like she’s not. Things changed for her. She did really well. SARAH: I set goals. And I always did my homework and made sure I was doing good. She was 0.5% away from the honor roll. Yeah. Sarah was– Sarah was good. Sarah wanted to go. She wanted to experience the world. A couple of days into her trip was the tsunami and the earthquake that– that rocked the world. We felt the earthquake and everything and, like, the aftershocks. We were kind of bummed out because our trip got
cut short. She was there. She was very angry she had to come home. And when she came home and seen why, she felt guilty for feeling angry. She felt very bad for the people over there. For some reason, Sarah was singled out to be the child that they showed all over Canada. It was Sarah’s picture that was on all of the newspapers, on all of the TVs. When she started watching the newscasts, she felt a very deep sense of guilt. It was weird and overwhelming. My anxiety got intensified. SONIA: Sarah went into her bedroom. For
about three weeks, all she did was go to school and come home to her bedroom, barely ate. She barely spoke to us at all. And then we find out later on that’s when she was drinking. She was hiding alcohol in her room every night. We thought she was drinking lots of water. It was straight vodka in the water bottles. SARAH: So it just kind of started as, like, a relaxer for me. My brain, my body– makes me feel calm, normal. I got to a point where I couldn’t even walk in my school anymore and just
go to class without having a drink. BRIAN: When she moved up to Kingston, that’s when we all noticed she had a pretty big problem. I can remember drinking, like, you know, full bottles of wine before class. Literally every time I would drink I’d black out. She’s called me in the middle of the night because she’s been completely annihilated and not known where she was. BRIAN: I visited her twice, maybe three times. Sarah drank a whole 26’er. She’d puke. She’d drink more. She’d repeat, repeat. I got calls 3 o’clock in the morning, you know, the cops
just gone and got her. She’s at the hospital. LEN: I started noticing the money missing. I found many of 40-ouncers, 26-ers, Mickeys. My dad kept telling her over and over again, you know, if you bring any more alcohol into the house you’re getting kicked out. And as soon as he found out she was drunk he said, all right, enough’s enough. He got her to pack up a backpack, throw a coat on, actually kicked her out, said, you have to get going. LEN: We can’t function as a family with Sarah, you know, fighting this battle. You
know, I’m not giving her any money. I’m not giving her a place to stay. You know, I cut all ties. My dad and my brother don’t really talk to me. So, you know, they completely don’t trust me anymore just ’cause I have lied over so much. BRIAN: My mom is just so wrapped around Sarah, she’s believing every word that she says. You know what I mean? She’s always the one to give in. My sister knows that. Can you run in and please– please– Have you drank anything today? No. Why don’t you try to go just
today without it? OK, seriously. If– if I go in, it’s just to get the edge off, just so you’re not feeling– because you’re not feeling good? – Yeah. And I’ll save it for– some for tomorrow. You swear it? Yes. You’re not gonna get drunk? Nope. Do you promise it’s gonna last you a couple of days? Yup. I promise. This addiction, your addiction, has consumed my life. If you do not accept this help, I will have no choice but support your dad and your brother in their decisions to not support your addictions any longer. And as
much as that kills me to say, I mean it. I have to save myself. That’s a painful thing for a mom to say. Well, I see that in supporting it I’m enabling her. And I can’t do that anymore because I’m killing her. When you’re sober, you’re an amazing person to be with. You’re funny, outgoing, energetic, and you’re such a smart girl. When you’re drinking, you’re careless and you cut yourself out from us. I have seen things that no younger brother should have ever seen. Sarah, today you will have an opportunity of your lifetime. And the
reason I say your lifetime is because I believe this is your last chance at life. So it’s my job to ask you, are you ready to accept help today, Sarah. Yeah, I’ll go. – What was that? – I’ll go. I’ll go. I’ll go. SONIA: Look at your family. Good choice. You’ll go. You’ll get healthy there. You’ll get the tools that you need in order to recover. I’m so proud of you. SARAH: I didn’t think it was possible for me to actually be capable of living a sober, healthy life. Without the alcohol, I’m a pretty independent
person. I’m creative. I found I love writing. It’s just amazing. I’m just looking forward to my life, ’cause I got my whole life ahead of me now. (SINGING) Veins swell. You know me, Ellen, enough to tell.
