A Sponsored Read

In over 600 posts I've never written about anything personal but this one is important to me and involves reading.

In August 2018 my brother Matt died suddenly from heart failure at the age of 41. It left our family in complete shock.

Previous to this, Matt had struggled on and off with addiction. He had several years of being free from drugs but fell back into them hard in 2017 and '18.

He found redemption in Crosbie House, a rehabilitation centre in Nova Scotia, Canada, not far from where Matt and I grew up. 

In Crosbie House he met a second family and slowly became the old person we all knew. Crosbie House saved his life, something he acknowledged without a doubt. 

Then, shortly after leaving the facility, his heart stopped. He died almost instantly from severe internal bleeding. This was due to an aortic dissection that had occurred a few weeks previous and was incorrectly diagnosed as the flu. 

He was 52 days sober. We've found some solace in the confirmation that he died free from drugs and alcohol and with a clear mind.

Crosbie House was a special place for my brother and has also been a place of mental respite for my parents, who have found new friends in the counsellors there. 

I am interested in raising some money for Crosbie House, the not-for-profit treatment centre that saved Matt and brought clarity back to his life when he needed it the most. They do amazing work for so many people and I want to try and give back. 

To raise money, I'm going to read one Young Adult novel a week for the next 6 weeks. Each novel will focus on mental health issues or substance abuse or both.

I will be sharing things that I've learned and passages from the novels on my Twitter feed (@lucasjmaxwell) using #ReadingForMatt

I will also be reviewing each book fully in the hopes to raise awareness on mental health and substance abuse. 

These are issues my brother struggled with since he was a teenager and I truly believe that talking, discussing and sharing our stories has the power to start the healing process. 

If you would like to donate to this read-a-thon, I've set up a Just Giving page which you can access by clicking here.

I'm going to present any money raised to Crosbie House in August when I travel to Canada with my family.