Chad Kirkpatrick
Submitted by Vicki Kirkpatrick
My husband & I had 2 sons. Chad was our youngest & Jeremy was 5 yrs older. Such a tragedy that we lost both of our sons to addiction, just 1 month apart, in the Spring of 2008. To honor both of them I would like to tell their stories individually. Chad was a quiet very loving & compassionate child. He adored his older brother Jeremy & wanted to do everything he did. At age 14 Chad was diagnosed with major depression & was even hospitalized for it a couple times. After 1 hospital stay & evaluation we were told Chad most likely would have addiction issues. With that knowledge we tried everything to help him live a normal life. He worked a couple full time jobs, but around age 23-24 he would come home from work in tears a lot of days. He had been in therapy & taking medication for his bipolar/depression issues for about 10 yrs at this point. He felt he could not longer work & filed for disability. He was accepted the 1st time, which is rare. Chad was always looking for some natural herb to help his depression. He even turned to abusing prescription medication to just sleep. He ordered an herb over the Internet that promised to cure depression. We strongly urged him not to take it, but now being 26 yrs old he was an adult. He made a tea with that herb & evidently took more than the recommended dose of his medication. He didn’t wake up the next day. He had told us early in his 20’s that he didn’t think he would live to be 30. He passed away at age 26. He tried to stay in treatment for his depression/addiction issues, he wanted to be “normal”. I am a better person because he was my son. I miss my gentle loving son. I love you Chad
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Chad Ryan Kirkpatrick, was a young man that had a heart bigger than the state of Texas, he was so precious; quiet and laid back, quite the opposite of his older brother Jeremy, but Chad would instantly win the heart of everyone he would come into contact with!! He started early with an incredible artistic talent and he would share his drawings and writing with those around him, yet as he reached puberty, his art work as well as his writings, became dark and scary to anyone that didn’t understand what he was going through. However, Vicki and Jim picked up on this immediately and thus began his roller coaster ride, of medication ups and downs, all in the name of……. trying to make him feel, what society deemed “NORMAL”!!?? It was at this point, that Chad began his 12 – 13 yrs, scary roller coaster ride, where he wanted to try anything he could get his hands on, to help gain contol of his illness, naturally!!! Unfortunately, this lead to his demise!! This beautiful, tender hearted young man was beating down by his mental illness issues, which sadly lead to his addiction and eventually ripped him from his beautiful family, at such a young age! I love you Chad Ryan and miss you and Jer so much, as do Adam and Alex, they loved you boys as if they were all brothers, instead of cousins!!! I hope that your tender heart is at peace, for the time being and that one day soon you all will be reunited with your loving family!! Love always, Aunt Pam,