#77: One Day At a Time, Turning her Grief into a Mission – Meet the Brave Colleen Michaelis

Too Posh Podcast

Colleen Michaelis allows us to interview her less than 3 months after her 24 year old son Tommy McClenahan passed away from an accidental drug overdose.
She believes that when good or bad things happen in your life, they give you the strength and opportunity to help others.
She wants to raise awareness and teach people about the stigma about the addiction problem in our country.

Colleen tells us she got pregnant with Thommy when she was 29. She remembers the wild, rambunctious, active, little boy, who never slept through the night, was strong willed and could never be bribed unless they were super hero figures.
Thommy had no sense of danger at elementary age.
Colleen was super proud of Thommy and he was exactly what she dreamed of having as a son. Fearless, with a huge heart that was drawn to special needs kids that he always included.
He was a super star Lacrosse player at this high school and they won the State Championship twice which led to 41 colleges offering him a scholarship.
His little brother Ben looked up to Thommy.

She talks about living in an affluent suburb of Dallas where 98% of the parents have a college degree. The kids living there don’t want for much.
Growing up in a town like that can create anxiety about having to be perfect, because everything looks so perfect.

Colleen tells us about the small red flags that started in High school that then began being slightly bigger signs of trouble when he was a Senior in High School when he became less hopeful for his future.
He started not caring for his passion Lacrosse which affected his relationship with his coach.
There were lots of issues that created a Tornado effect for Thommy that give you reasons to not be your best.
Even with all these issues he was still great and energetic and Colleen truly thought he would get to college and be great.

Thommy hid it well, he always looked good, went places and had his big smile with a 4.1 grade point average.
At his Freshman year at the University of Mississippi he increasingly got more depressed, got very anxious and didn’t want to leave his room.
By the time parents weekend came he seemed happy, so Colleen left hopeful that everything was going to be alright.
He didn’t go to classes but did participate in lots of Fraternity activities.

2nd semester of his Freshman year he asked his parents for help because he recognized that he had a problem.
Colleen was shocked because in her mind he is Thommy – he is going to be fine.
They took him to a rehab facility hoping they would admit him for in patient treatment, but they suggested out patient treatment.
The same night he went to his girlfriends house, took a cocktail of drugs, Xanax and other pills and sliced his wrists which was terrifying. He had no memory of this event.

Colleen and Thommy’s Dad were in shock and panic and got him into a psyche unit for 48 hours followed by in patient rehab center, which helped tremendously.

The following year he went back to the University of Mississippi and fell backwards. Colleen says a lot of parents would have brought their child back home, but they thought
it was better for him to stay as far away from their seemingly perfect suburban neighborhood where his troubles started.

After a wake board accident he was prescribed 3 refills of hydrocodone for a total of 90 pills. He couldn’t conquer that.
The progression was hydrocodone to oxycontin to heroin.
January 2018 after his Dad found syringes they put him in the Recovery Unplugged rehab in Austin, where he did great and graduated to living with a roommate on July 1, 2018.

Colleen takes us through the details of the fateful day of August 10, 2018, the day her precious son passed away and how she found out and the days after that.
She explains that addiction and relapse is a 5 second decision.
Being beyond strong and brave she spoke at his funeral and addressed the elephant in the room.
She is so thankful to all her friends that swept in and took care of everything.
Since this show was recorded Colleen got the toxicology report back and Fentanyl was at the top of the list.
174 people die of a drug overdose every single day.

She wants everyone to know that when fighting all these demons it can take away from all the greatness that was Thommy, but she wants him to be remembered as the loyal person, great friend that always stuck up for people and the amazing person and how loved he was.

She is grateful for the memories from last Christmas that she got to take both her sons on a vacation to Costa Rica and the time they spent together.