Our wonderful son, Alexander Christian Beirne, died suddenly on Friday, August 30, 2019 at the age of 38. He battled drug addiction and mental illness for many years, so we were prepared on some level for his passing, but he and our family had high hopes that he’d be able to beat his addiction.
Alex leaves behind his parents, Kevin and Christine Beirne; his brother Daniel (Yennyn); his brother Casey (Jolene); his brother David; his niece Tearney; his nephews Aidan, Ethan and Logan (aka Little Loggie); his grandparents Helen and James Apostolina; his grandfather Jack Beirne (Debbie); his uncle Stephen (Karen); his uncle Michael Apostolina (Nic Garcia); his uncle Kent (Darcy) Beirne; his aunt Susan Beirne; his aunt Jeri Beirne and many cousins. He was predeceased by his grandmother Jean Beirne and his uncle Kerry Berine. He also leaves behind his good friend Crystal Freeman and her dog Callie.
Alex could be your child. He played soccer, baseball and football. We went to all his games and sat down to home-cooked meals at night. He picked up the bass at a young age, and as one of my friends said, “He’s Howling Wolf reborn.” He loved to learn and read, and when he was young, his math skills were several grade levels ahead of his age. He was considered “gifted,” but unfortunately, once he started taking meth, he could never let go of it for more than a few years and his gifts slid by the wayside.
He had various jobs including commercial fishing, flooring, plumbing, tile and masonry. He loved playing with his niece and nephews (they were all squirts) and bought his niece her first skateboard when she was a toddler. He loved hanging out with family and friends and was thrilled when he could beat his uncle Stephen in arm wrestling. The last couple of years he loved singing – especially country music. It gave him so much joy to just belt out songs.
Two weeks ago, I told him that one day there would be a vaccine for this terrible disease. For those who think drug addiction is strictly a choice – yes, it is at first. But for some, drug addiction changes their brain chemistry and develops into something which gives them very little choice in the matter.
Alex also had schizoaffective bipolar disorder, and as we discovered, our mental health system is truly a mess. Ventura County has no residential long-term mental health housing (except for jail!) unless you can afford 30 thousand dollars a month. Ventura County’s Behavioral Health “crisis team” seemed more concerned with figuring out how not to help, than helping. Mental health and drug addiction are intertwined and it’s our hope that one day our government institutions will take seriously the treatment of individuals who are suffering from these sometimes-deadly ailments.
We did receive help through NAMI (National Association of Mental Illness) and encourage you in lieu of flowers, to make donations to NAMI of Ventura County. We also would like to thank his legal team of Jeremy Lessem, Danielle Tamir, Arianna Roco and Ratan Bhavnani for all their support.