New and Media

News and the Media

    The following are links to some of the articles that were printed of Cathy. These articles were wrong in a few aspects and right in others. Cathy was a student at Foothill High School. She did not take Special K that night but there may have been that or other drugs in the Ecstasy she took. She did not over drink that night either. Within several hour she had consumed one beer, one glass of wine, and two Bacardi Silvers (which are a type of wine cooler).

    We are still waiting for the Coroners report from Cathy's autopsy and a forensic lab report on the ecstasy pill itself. I will post more information once I receive it.

    As for the media, I personally believe that they did their job, I wish that they had gotten all the facts right when they took their story and I wish that they mentioned more about what a wonderful human being Cathy truly was. She was not a drugy. There is an honest line between experimental use and addictional use. She was clean for around two years prior, she wanted to feel the effects of the surreal ecstasy to make a memory of prom that she would always remember.

    No one knows what is in the drugs that are bought off the street. You can be told it's one thing and find out, like Cathy did, that there was something wrong. It could happen to anyone that uses for the first time or the hundredth time. I am not trying to tell everyone to say "no to drugs", everyone has their own lives and makes their own decisions. Everyone has been told to "say no to drugs", but yet the numbers of people using are always climbing. Anyone can buy if they want to, sneak around family and use, most of the time without getting caught. I do not judge anyone for this. I loved my sister very much, all I have to say is when you don't know what you are taking, then you don't know what may happen to you after. The dealers most of the time, do not know what chemicals are in what they are selling, the people that made it do. Who's to say after it was made that someone else along the lines didn't add something else to it. Along with all the facts that one pill of ecstasy may have up to 20 or more different chemicals, there also may be some hidden health problem in the person taking it. Something no one knew about before, just ready to go wrong when a certain type of drug takes effect.

    I know that Cathy's death has made an impact on many students, teachers and parents. I also know that there is still a majority of people that will not want to change their habits, that believe that this would never happen to them. I truly hope it doesn't. I do know though that this is defiantly not the first or last time that an intelligent, bright, young adult ends up dieing before they even begin their future, due to experimenting with drugs that have an adverse reaction on their system.

    Please learn about drugs, learn about yourself and any possible health problems, know what you are doing, make choices knowing the truth first. Don't put something in your body not knowing what is in it or what it can do to you, just to fit in. Use the internet and research, E-mail me and I will research for you, anonymously. Learn now before having fun is over and the people that love you are left with only the memories of you.

    I will always miss Cathy, she made a decision that night, not knowing that the ecstasy she was taking was 2-3x stronger than what she had taken in her past. She did not know the other drugs that may have been in it. Four hours after taking it, she collapsed in her fiancés arms and her last words were "My head really hurts". She was then brain dead. At the hospital, the doctors declared her brain dead with in 24 hours and we were not given a choice, the hospital took her off of life support while we held her for 20 minute while her heart fought to stay alive without the use of her lungs. The moment her heart stopped, her body yellowed and turned cold. I know, I was kissing her arm at that moment.

    Make your own decisions in your lives, but please truly know what you are doing first.

Star Isford