The Hawk family was addicted to heroin.

In September 2008, Lisa Ling visited Richland County, Ohio, an area that, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, is in the grips of a heroin epidemic. While she was there, Lisa met the Hawk family—parents Mike and Darla and their teenage sons, Michael and Matt, were all hooked on heroin. Their 13-month-old son, Cayden, wasn't addicted, but Mike and Darla said they often took him along for drug runs. They even shot up while he was in the car. 

Mike, Darla, Michael and Matt all said they wanted to get help and stop using. Four drug treatment centers agreed to take one family member each, and Darla was able to take Cayden with her.

It's been five months since the Hawks left for rehab, and Lisa Ling is following up to see how their recovery is going.
Mike is living in a sober living facility in Manhattan.

Mike is staying at a Phoenix House sober living facility in New York City, and Lisa says he looks like a different person. "It was hard for me to believe [you are] the same Mike we saw strung out just five months ago," she says. "You've gained 35 pounds, and your skin looks amazing!"

Mike says his life was headed down a dangerous road before he finally sought treatment. "If we wouldn't have ended up dead, we would have ended up in prison and Cayden would have been taken away from us," he says. "Worse yet, something could have happened to him."

Almost half a year later, Mike is working as a painter in Washington Heights. Though the neighborhood is known to be the heroin capital of Manhattan, Mike says he's not tempted to use. "I know where it will take me," he says. "There's no one shot, no one chance that I'll do the drug and then I won't pick it up again. It doesn't work like that—you pick up once and you're done."
Mike gives an update on his sons.

Mike is Skyping into the Oprah Show studio from his sober living facility in New York City, and says his children are doing well. "Mike Jr. is in a juvenile facility in Ohio. He got into a little bit of trouble, and he's getting treatment. ... We write back and forth. He has a lot of positive things to say, and he actually encourages me. It's been really good," he says. "Matthew completed his program at [the treatment center] Caron Foundation. In a five-month period he's gotten his GED, he's enrolled in college now, he's in a sober living house in Pennsylvania—he's doing great."

Mike gets most emotional when he talks about his youngest son, Cayden. "[He] can't make his own choices and decisions. Someone has to be there for him, and that's person's going to be me," Mike says. "What more can I ask for? He's running around doing things that little boys do. And he's just happy."
Mike has been clean from drugs for five months.

Getting clean is a tough process, but Mike says the most difficult part hasn't been the physical effects. "The hardest part for me, in the beginning it was just being away from my family," he says. "But we were never really there anyway."

Mike says that five months is the longest he's ever been clean, and he's confident that this time it's for good. "I discovered God really, by looking at myself," he says. "Now I have a set of principles that I live by and I know things that are true, and you can't take those away from me."
Darla is drug-free, though she says it hasn't been easy.

The road to recovery has been a different one for Mike's wife, Darla, who is Skyping in from the Phoenix House Mother and Child inpatient treatment program in Long Island, New York. "I'm going to be honest: It hasn't been easy," she says. "But I'm taking it one day at a time, and I'm just happy to be drug-free."

Though Darla lives with Cayden and sees Mike every two weeks, she says being separated from family is extremely hard. "I hope [we will be together] soon, because I really miss my family," she says. "I just miss being a mother to them."

Lisa says that when the Hawks reunite, there will be a new set of challenges to face. "They have enabled each other for so many years," she says. "When they're in their own separate facilities, it's easy to focus on themselves and their recovery. But once they come together, it's a different scenario."
Merry was a pregnant mom addicted to heroin.

While in Richland County, Lisa also met Merry, a pregnant 24-year-old addicted to heroin. Merry started shooting up when she was 17, and she says she can't sleep through the night without waking up to use. During Lisa's visit, Merry decided it was time to get help, but she had a hard time  finding a facility that would accept a woman who was pregnant.

Seabrook House, a New Jersey rehabilitation facility that specializes in detoxing pregnant women, offered to take Merry in. Though hesitant, Merry agreed to check in. "I'm ready to go," she said.
Lisa Ling says Merry relapsed after her treatment program ended.

After the show taped, Lisa says Merry checked into the rehab facility and successfully completed her six-week program. "She went back to Ohio and delivered a very healthy baby girl whom she gave up, and about a week later she relapsed and is in jail as we speak," Lisa says.

Merry was charged with failure to appear in court and possession of drug abuse instruments and pled not guilty.

"Merry has this boyfriend who has not gotten the kind of treatment Merry has, or really treatment at all. So as long as the two of them stay in each other's lives, they're enabling each other." 

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Published 03/05/2009