Heroin took life of bright teen from Mukilteo

MUKILTEO — Sean Gahagan ran out of time.

The red-headed boy with a goofy sense of humor and a passion for art, music and defending the underdog couldn’t beat the disease inside of him before it took his life.

Sean died last month at home in Mukilteo.

He was 17. He’d just graduated from Kamiak High School. He’d been taking college classes and was considering culinary school.

Detectives suspect Sean accidentally overdosed on heroin.

Two of his friends were hospitalized for heroin overdoses just days prior to Sean’s death. They survived. Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives are investigating the overdoses, awaiting the results of toxicology tests.

The Mukilteo boy’s family is mourning.

“Sean wanted to get better. The illness of addiction is strong,” his mother, Mary Jane Gahagan, said. “With this illness there isn’t a lot of time” to get better.

Gahagan and her husband are educated professionals. She teaches math at local community colleges. Her husband is an economist. They took their children to Europe, gave their son guitar lessons, drove him to hockey and soccer practices, listened to opera at the dinner table and talked to their kids about the danger of drugs.

“We weren’t ignorant about drug abuse. We just didn’t realize how pervasive it is in our society,” Mary Jane Gahagan said.

Drug addiction is a disease, not a sign of a bad person, said Frank Couch, a drug and alcohol counselor for the Seattle-based Science and Management of Addictions Foundation. Some people are genetically predisposed to becoming an addict. Others trace their addiction back to experimentation, he said. The path is different for every addict, Couch said.

The disease crosses all social and economic boundaries, he said.

“I’ve treated kids from all walks of life,” Couch said. “It doesn’t matter where you come from.”

Sean was bright. He loved to talk and argue politics. He’d played hockey and soccer, and ran track. He was once an Eagle-bound Scout. He was a master of practical jokes, revelling in the anticipation of a good set-up.

“The first time I met him, I thought he was quiet. He turned out to be really funny and bright,” Sean’s friend Patrick Smith said. “He was comfortable with who he was.”

Sean favored hats and didn’t mind a hand-me down shirt if it was unique. He could whip up a batch of waffles and carve a pumpkin into a work of art. He treasured music and savored a triumphant session of “Guitar Hero” against his younger sister.

Sean also was good at hiding his illness, his mom said.

For 3 1/2 years, she and her husband witnessed their son’s descent.

He first tried cigarettes in middle school. Sean, a curious boy, moved on from tobacco.

“Kids don’t wake up one day and decide to be an addict. That doesn’t happen. A series of lines are crossed,” Couch said.

As Sean entered high school, he lost interest in his hobbies. His grades dropped.

His parents consulted the family doctor, books, counselors and church leaders. They educated themselves about the disease, learned they had to set boundaries and gave their son urinalysis tests to check for drug usage.

Sean was an addict. He didn’t have an “off” button when it came to drugs, his mom said.

He entered treatment in October. He underwent a mixture of programs, including in-patient stays and out-patient counseling, his mom said. He left treatment in June.

Sean returned to Kamiak and continued taking college classes as part of the Running Start program. He worked and caught up on his schoolwork to graduate with his classmates.

“He was doing much better since leaving treatment,” his mom said. “His behavior over recent weeks would have indicated he was in full recovery.”

Gahagan said they didn’t have any evidence that Sean was using heroin. He hadn’t gone to treatment for heroin, she said. She declined to discuss what specific drugs Sean used, out of respect for his privacy.

Smith, who met Sean while the Gahagans lived in Texas, said he never saw Sean use heroin.

“He was always very experimental. I never expected him to become addicted. I never expected him to die from his addiction,” Smith said.

Couch said he has seen an increase in heroin use among the young people he counsels. Once thought to be a hard-core street drug, young people are experimenting with heroin and becoming addicted, Couch said.

Many start out using prescription painkillers, which are also opiates, and then transition to heroin. Heroin is cheaper, a better bargain for a strong high.

Heroin can take hold quickly. The effects can be devastating, There’s no way to tell how potent the drug is or if it’s mixed with something else.

“These kids probably never thought they’d be buying heroin from anyone. They were probably good kids. They’re still good kids. We can never give up hope on our kids,” Couch said.

He said more research needs to be done to understand addiction. Professionals need to develop treatment specifically for adolescents, not just an adult-modified version. Kids and parents need more education about drugs and addiction.

“We have to move away from the thought that it’s a character flaw,” Mary Jane Gahagan said. “It’s an illness like cancer or diabetes. It would be unthinkable for a mother or father to refuse their child chemotherapy or dialysis. It’s also unthinkable a child who has an addiction should be rejected.”

Drug use shouldn’t be dismissed as a phase in a young person’s life, Couch said.

“ ’Oh, they’ll grow out of it’ doesn’t work,” he said. “What if they don’t? What if they don’t?”

Gahagan said she is speaking about her son’s death in hopes of helping other parents and educating young people about the dangers of drug use. She wants people to speak up if they’re worried about their friends. She hopes parents won’t give up on their children.

“I want to give them a message of hope,” she said. “With treatment and education, we can increase the odds that someone with the disease will live a full adult life. There’s always hope.”

Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.