A Good Cause -- Cheryl Post

-- Story by Suzie Harrison, photo by

Eleven years ago, Cheryl Post learned a painful lesson.

Her only son, Brandon Balsiger-Post, died at the age of 21 from

Cocaethelyne poisoning -- a little known but very deadly result of

combining cocaine and alcohol .

He was in the hospital for 12 days before he died, 11 of them in a

coma. He died on his mother’s 43rd birthday.

“During those 11 days, I searched my heart and soul, asking how this

could happen to such a great kid,” said Cheryl Post, Brandy’s mother. “I

decided I was getting a wake-up call and that his death had to mean

something. His life had to mean something.”

Because of the loss, his mother and stepfather, Carlton Post, founded

Brandy’s Friends, a nonprofit treatment for drug and alcohol addiction

for teenagers.

“Six months before he died he came to us,” Cheryl Post said. “I did

everything I could to find an outpatient program for teenagers and their

families and found no outpatient programs specifically geared for

teenagers.”

Teenagers in particular are hard to diagnose and treat because they

are going through so many changes that at times it is hard to

differentiate between some of those changes and signs of addiction, she

added.

“I didn’t understand why,” she said. “He had everything. I didn’t

understand what the missing piece of the puzzle was.”

One of the goals of their education department is to teach parents the

physical signs of drug and alcohol use to look for.

“Some of Brandy’s behavior we generally mistook for normal teenage

behavior, being alone in your room, angry outbursts and mood swings can

also be your normal teen,” Post said.

Balsiger-Post played Little League from the age of 7 until he was 15.

He was also the most valuable player on his Laguna Beach High School

freshman football team and a soccer player for the Laguna Beach

All-Stars.

“It can happen to any family,” his mother said.

Suddenly his sophomore year he quit sports, a sign his parents wished

they had caught. There were other signs like careless spending of money

when he was formerly cautious with money.

“The most difficult part for teenagers’ recovery is that they’re

having to learn so many things -- their identity, how to be in the world

-- that it makes them vulnerable,” said clinical director Lesley Donovan.

Brandy’s Friends is a comprehensive outpatient treatment program that

greatly facilitates teen addicts and their families.

It has developed an intensive 90-day program with 12 months of

after-care, a youth sports diversion program and counseling. It also

offers music, art, meditation and family therapy, as well as other

therapy modules.

“Most of the time when the parents make the first call they don’t know

where to begin,” said Kathy Borack, a staff member of Brandy’s Friends.

“They say that they don’t know where to begin, to start or how they got

to this point.”

Brandy’s Friends is at 395 2nd St. For more information, please call

494-8100.