Bryan Hullihen's Story

Bryan Hullihen was only 13 years old when he began smoking pot. Growing up in a beach community like Jupiter, Florida provided an abundance of opportunity for this kind of behavior and a level of social acceptance that made it easy for Bryan to justify it. Many of Bryan's friends smoked pot and drank and it wasn't long until most of the social engagements were centered around drinking or getting high. At this point in Bryan Hullihen 's life he lived in two worlds where one realm demanded that he do well in school and perform in sports and the other had him surfing, skating, fighting, and getting high. Before long school began to become an inconvenience and Mr. Hullihen's attendance dropped so low that he had "incompletes" for grades which was worse than F's if you can imagine that. Bryan wanted to do well and knew that his life would go nowhere if he didn't pull up out of this nosedive. Bryan also knew that his father could, and would, provide him wi...

Bryan Hullihen and his sister Heather walked into the hospital room to find their father with 200 stitches in his face, a broken left arm, broken left leg, all ribs on his left side broken, and a collapsed lung. He was barely conscious when the two young kids walked in but he recognized his children and as his head rolled over to one side a young Bryan Hullihen recalls observing a tear fall from his father's eye and roll down a severely shredded up face. Heather began crying uncontrollably and left the room after a short time to meet her brother in the hall. Not much was said that day but they both knew the realities of this terrible situation. They both knew that all of them were suffering. Mom, Dad, Heather, and Bryan were feeling the burden of a broken home due to one man's alcoholism. Bryan Hullihen began spending more time at the hospital as his father began to heal. The hospital held Mr. Hullihen, due to an infection that developed in his leg, longer than the 6 w...

By the time Bryan Hullihen was settled into his new school and making his way through the fourth grade Christmas had arrived. This was to be young Bryan Hullihen 's first Christmas following his parents’ divorce and his mother did everything she could to make it a great one for him and his sister. Bryan remembers how he and his sister were so happy on that particular Christmas morning as they opened all of their gifts to realize they were given every single thing they asked for. The fact that their mother still was not earning a lot of money but somehow figured out how to provide for her children in such an extravagant way is testament to the love and support that Bryan and his sister knew as kids. Around 8:00 in the morning that Christmas the phone rang and Bryan knew in an instant something was wrong. His mother rushed into one of the bedrooms where she could be heard crying hysterically through the entire house. After several minutes Christine emerged calling Bryan and his si...

Bryan Hullihen's first day of school in the new town was both filled with excitement and events that set his reputation off to a pretty good start as far as Bryan was concerned. Bryan had just spent the entire summer with his new friend Chris and they grew very close over that time. Chris was a chubby kid and not very athletic and being from out of town the previous year some of the older kids would make fun of him. Bryan had no idea Chris had gone through that as Chris hid it from the young Mr. Hullihen. Bryan and Chris rode the bus together and when they pulled into school Bryan could plainly see that his friend was scared. Chris finally explained to Bryan that on the last day of school the previous year three boys that were older than him tried to beat him up and he barely escaped to his bus without incident. The three boys told Chris they’d get him on the first day of school after summer and, sure enough, they were waiting for him at the bus loop that morning. Bryan Hullihen ...

When Bryan Hullihen was 9 years old his mother moved he and his sister Heather to Jupiter, FL. According to Mr. Hullihen: ''Jupiter was a paradise and we live right on the beach. The schools, people, businesses, streets, everything was nicer than where we lived before”.  Bryan Hullihen moved to Jupiter, FL during the summer between his third and fourth grade year and he made many friends during that summer. Bryan spent most of his time with his new friend Chris, two sisters named Joanna and Juliet, and their friend Angela. Living in such a nice area afforded these young kids a lot of freedoms and most of their free time was spent swimming in pools, riding bicycles, or hanging out at the beach. For the most part they hung out together all the time. Joanna and Juliet were new to Jupiter, FL as well and they arrived there from South Africa the same summer as Bryan. Chris was also fairly new to the area as he moved there from West Virginia at the end of the previous school...