Asking for help does not come easily to Rita Beraro.
But the woman who spent her working years helping others, is fighting for her son Taylor Schley’s life.
On Friday, the 31-year-old was in the intensive care unit at Shuswap Lake General Hospital, suffering from the effects of more than 15 years of alcoholism.
Having gone through detox in June, Schley entered rehab July 2 at a private facility in Tappen because there is no publicly funded rehab facility in the B.C. Interior, something Interior Health says is a temporary situation.
Unbeknownst to Beraro, Schley began experimenting with alcohol when he was 12, and drinking steadily by the time he was 16.
At 18, Schley, who had moved out, phoned Beraro about 2 one morning, yelling at her and asking why she hadn’t told him he was an alcoholic.
“I congratulated him for knowing that he had a problem and acknowledging it,” she said Friday. “It took him that many (15) years to get where he is today, and that is in ICU.”
At home with his mom Sunday before heading back to rehab, Schley described himself as being terrified and “brain-scattered” from the recent episode that hospitalized him.
“I think the way this has been going, it’s gonna work or I am going to die,” says Schley, who may have suffered brain damage from this latest episode. “I’ve done too much damage to my liver, it’s pretty much done for. The doctor looked at me and said, ‘I really think you should explore the options of a liver transplant.’”
Schley, who has dropped some 50 pounds in the past couple of months, says in his “illustrious drinking days,” he would survive for three days on a diet of one grilled cheese sandwich and liquor.
Admitting that alcohol was the solution he chose to deal with overwhelming anxiety, Schley offers a warning about how easy it is for social drinking to slide irrevocably into alcoholism.
“It’s just drinking, it’s just boozing, I’m just having a couple, it’s (the need) not me,” he says of the attitude some have regarding their alcohol use. “It may not be you now, but it is you, and when it comes to a point when you can’t stop, there’s no turning back and it’s scary.”
Beraro says her son needs to get rehab close to home and the two daughters Schley says mean the world to him.
“He’s on a disability pension and the ministry doesn’t pay for a private facility,” Beraro says, noting sending her son to a publicly funded facility in the Lower Mainland is not an acceptable option in her mind. “I have a boy here who’s small-town and with all his issues, he needs to see his family and feel connected to be successful.”
But sending people to the Coast is a temporary solution following the recent closure of Crossroads in Kelowna, says Randy Murray, IH director for Mental Health Substance Use Programs.
The Bridge, a 30-bed publicly funded rehab residence, will open Aug. 12 in Kelowna. An aboriginal treatment centre at Green Lake is also funded by IH.
Murray says people in need of residential care normally get in quickly and, following their three-month stay, are connected to ongoing support in their own communities. After Aug. 12, anyone needing residential care for themselves or family members, may call 250-868-7788 and ask for an intake worker.
In the meantime, Schley’s six-week stay with 90-day follow-up treatment at the private facility is $13,800 plus tax.
To help pay the fees, a benefit yard sale/silent auction and bottle drive will take place Saturday, July 27 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Downtown Activity Centre.
Reps from the Canadian Mental Health Association will be there with information on drug and alcohol addiction. For more information on Saturday’s event and other fundraising opportunities, contact Beraro at rberaro@shaw.ca.
