Bryan Hullihen's Story

For several more years Bryan Hullihen continued to experiment with drugs and drink alcohol while his behavior became increasingly more unstable due to his continued substance abuse. Bryan spent most of his time during this phase of his life with his girlfriend, his stepbrother, and his stepbrother’s girlfriend. Although Bryan was only 17 he drank more alcohol than most 21-year olds and he lived his life as if it were a perpetual party. The beginning of the end for this way of life for the young Mr. Hullihen occurred one night while camping with those who Bryan spent most of his time with. Bryan and his friends had been drinking all night while camping on an island when around midnight they had run out of beer. Not wanting the party to end Bryan took his friend’s boat back to the marina where his vehicle was parked and headed off to the store to buy more alcohol. Bryan ended up at the beach as his friend’s birthday party was ending and he hoped to catch his friend to wish him a happy ...

Bryan Hullihen lived at his father’s house for one year before moving back to his mother’s in Jupiter, FL. When Bryan got home and settled in he recalls feeling as though many of his friends and children he grew up with moved on without him. Bryan states: “Many of the kids I knew went on to for new social groups and people seemed to act differently. It was a strange feeling because I felt as though I no longer truly fit in with all the kids I grew up with. It was like I had to make friends with my friends all over again." It didn't take Mr. Hullihen long to settle back into life in Jupiter and soon after his return he was doing well in school and being a kid at home. Bryan spent much of his free time fishing, surfing, and skating with his friends and, for the most part, did very well up until his sophomore year in high school. It was around this time that Bryan and his family moved to his stepfather's house in a part of Jupiter called Jupiter Farms. Moving to "the f...

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...