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My name is Mike.
I'm 29 years old.
My girlfriend Collette's pregnant right now.
She's got this perfect little belly bump.
Collette means everything to me.
I love Mike more than I've ever
loved anyone in my whole life, but Mike
sticks needles in his arms.
I'm addicted to fentanyl and methamphetamines.
The way I get money for drugs is I've resorted to stealing.
Pretty much shoplift from any kind of store.
My life is not my own anymore, actually.
My life is his.
In a way, he took my life with his addiction,
because everything is centered around him.
He doesn't pay rent at my home.
He doesn't buy groceries.
I do everything by myself.
He almost died about a year and a half ago,
and he was in a hospital in a coma for weeks.
I thought he would never touch drugs again.
Within two months, he was using.
If he doesn't get help, I'm sure he's dead before the end
of this year.
So.
The day that Mike was born, holding him
was just the best thing ever.
He was beautiful.
My heart would melt every time I'd look at him,
I was so proud of him.
And he was very affectionate, extremely affectionate.
He always had a giant smile on his face,
and we just couldn't contain him.
I think I was 19 years old when
I found out I was pregnant.
Mike's father wanted nothing to do with the baby.
He just left.
He'd left her alone all by herself with a child.
It was a lot of worrying seeing my mother struggle,
and having to worry if you're going to be able to eat
for the rest of the week.
Or not having breakfast before school, and being hungry.
Nighttime would fall, she'd go to work.
I'd have my friends over.
I'd be smoking weed and--
and doing whatever.
Mike and I, you know, we first had started off smoking weed,
and then it eventually got into, you know, ecstasy and cocaine,
things like that.
We started partying with older people,
so it was just a lot more access to those kind of things.
I think it was around 15 when I started selling drugs.
I didn't have things like other teens had,
so that's how I had to do it.
He was very lucky.
Mike got away with anything.
Mike did really well with the girls.
I even remember being a little bit jealous of him
because he did well with girls in comparison.
I met my first girlfriend when I was 16.
What I really liked when we first met
was that she was, you know, the good girl.
But she lied to me and told me that she was on birth control.
Then one day, I get a call, and she told me
that, yeah, she was pregnant.
I was completely surprised how much I wanted to be a dad,
and how much it changed me.
I went right to work.
I went right into construction.
Mike was a really good dad to his girls.
Mike never spanked his girls.
Michael loves his girls, and I know they love their dad.
I used to come home every day from work,
I'd have my kids there.
You know, that's-- that's the life that I wanted.
For the first few weeks, I refused painkillers.
But after a little bit, I started abusing the painkillers
and, yeah, I couldn't stop.
I tried to return to work, but it was just juggling
with an addiction and life.
It was just unmanageable at that point.
My girlfriend, she broke up with me.
She took the kids and I've rarely seen
my kids at all in two years.
I went from seeing my kids every day, to having nothing.
I was alone, and it just started spinning out of control.
I just dove head first right into heroin.
He has stolen from me.
He was selling drugs, using in front of me.
I ended up going into jail for,
I think it was about nine months,
and then I was released to a recovery house in the lower
mainland, like two hours from Chilliwack, where I stayed
for eight months and was clean.
Then I came back to Chilliwack for court, and I met Collette.
We kind of just hit it off.
And after that day, we were kind of pretty inseparable.
He was clean and sober and things were going really well,
but he decided to start drinking, thinking,
I guess, he could use casually again.
That's right around when I kind of separated myself from him.
I didn't used for a long time, but then I relapsed
and I was pretty much right back where I was before I left.
I've been putting a curfew on him.
Want the light off?
Uh-huh.
If he hasn't come by after midnight,
he can stay out for the rest of the night.
Mike's grandma, Helene, is throwing a baby shower,
and I honestly have no idea where Mike is.
I said I was going to be gone for maybe an hour,
and I was out all night.
Mind if I borrow a couple of bucks?
What are you looking for, Mike, $5?
What do you think?
Here.
Thank you.
And that's it.
It's hard.
It's hard to say no to him, you know?
It's very hard.
Well, you're not showing much, are you?
You're so little.
So, are you anxious?
Well, yeah, of course.
Heaven's sakes, man.
I'm OK.
Just sit down and relax.
I don't want you to take this the wrong way.
I love you.
You're everything to me.
I'm so scared that you're going to die.
It makes me literally nervous and sick.
I go into such--
Grandma, I was asking for help before I got this bad, and--
Hey, you came every day, I gave you money.
What are you talking about?
We're leaving.
No.
Yes.
You could have told us "no, thank you,
I'm not interested," and we'd have said OK, but you didn't.
You can return the presents, it's quite all right.
What?
What is she saying?
We're talking about-- no, this is for the child.
You don't take away the child-- no.
You don't take away a child's gifts.
Mike and I are going to be seeing baby's
face at the ultrasound today.
We're both pretty excited.
OK.
You want me to get the lights?
Yeah.
Turn off the lights, please.
I'll show you the baby's position, OK?
Show you all that.
Oh, my god!
Oh!
He's so cute.
It's a good picture.
It's really good picture, really nice.
OK.
So now baby's hungry.
You want to go to the pho place,
because that's the area that I need to go to.
So you can go in and order pho, and I'll
quickly run in and grab something and then come back.
[BLEEP] I hate, like--
We just had an ultrasound, and now you have to go use
to make yourself feel better.
I'm not [BLEEP] waiting.
Does anyone got anything?
What kind do you got?
Do you do dope?
I don't look like I do dope?
No.
I need to get some dope.
Doesn't haven't anything?
Tia's not here?
No.
This pregnancy has been extremely hard.
I want him to be the man that I fell in love with.
If he doesn't accept treatment tomorrow,
are you going to stay with him?
No.
Then you need to say that, which is a healthy choice
for you and your baby.
All is important to me is that he lives, and he lives clean.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Hey.
I'm Andrew.
How are you doing?
Not bad.
I guess you recognize everybody.
Yeah.
Follow me?
Yeah.
Your addiction took away my funny, charismatic,
loving, caring son.
I refuse to sit back and watch you kill yourself,
because that is what you're doing every single day you use.
Mike, you know I love you.
I am scared you're going to die.
I'm terrified.
[CRYING]
If you choose not to take the help being offered today,
I have no choice but for baby and I
to move forward with our life.
So I'm going to ask, are you willing to accept the help
being offered here today?
Of course.
Collette, I think you should give him a big hug
and say way to go there.
I think he just made her day.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I love you.
It's a long one for a long time.
A long hug for a long time.
Love you.
Hi, you must be Mike.
Hi.
Hi, Mike, I'm Wendy.
Welcome to Thorpe Recovery Center.
Nice to meet you.
Let's do this.
Thanks, buddy.
Be good.
To be honest, at first it was a ticket out of jail.
But when I got here, and after about a week,
just seeing the type of structure
that's here, and the people, and how they're utilizing it,
and how--
what it's doing for their lives, it was eye-opening.
Me and Collette, we had a baby girl, 9 pounds, 2 ounces.
It's hard to describe the feeling you get when
you see your daughter born.
I'm on my way to get back to work, just building that family
nest, and just being happy.
So that feels good.
[THEME MUSIC]
Veins swell, you know me--