SON'S DEATH INSPIRES WAR ON DRUGS

Rusty Marvin, a standout athlete and student at St. John's Jesuit High
School, died alone in his parents' Ottawa Hills garage with cocaine
splattered around his body. He was 18 when he overdosed on July 7,
2005.

Rick Marvin, a recovering drug addict and alcoholic, said he knows his
addiction contributed to his son's problems and affected the way he
addressed Rusty's drug use.

"With me being an addict, I just wanted it to go away," Rick said. "I
am not a normal person. I was a poor example. With Rusty, it was 'do
as I say, not as I do,' " Rick said.

A year and a half later, Rick Marvin and Amy Adams, Rusty's parents,
common law husband and wife, are using the teen's death as the
inspiration to help other troubled youths, and some adults, through
the support center called Rusty's House.

The center offers support groups, interventions and resources to teens
and families battling addiction. An extensive Web site,
www.rustyshouse.org, directs people to Rusty's House services and
links to numerous treatment centers. Closer to God

Rusty's House was several sad and traumatic years in the
making.

His parents suspect Rusty began using when he was a sophomore in high
school. He started drinking, smoking marijuana and taking acid and
mushrooms. He first entered rehab as a high school junior.

It was in rehab that he met with acquaintances who introduced him to
the drug that would ultimately take his life, his father said.

Rusty balanced getting into trouble at school with being a very
involved and good student. He founded a prayer group and organized
some volunteering activities. He starred on the football team.

Rusty also had a very close relationship with God.

"He journaled. He was very into God. He thought getting high got him
closer to God," Rick said.

His parents feel his activities at school helped him
focus.

When football ended his senior year, he took a turn for the worse.
There was nothing to occupy his time, Rick said.

"He had idle time and went back to his old friends," who were still
using drugs, his father said.

On April 15, 2005, Rusty overdosed for the first time. His family
remembers going to see him at St. Anne Mercy Hospital.

"He looked so far gone," Rick said. "I remember the look that he was
way out there."

Rusty went back into intensive outpatient rehab. The family remembers
the frustration of trying to find Rusty help.

There were few options for a teenage addict, they said.

"Nobody could help us," Amy said.

Rusty was living in a men's halfway house and trying to keep up with
his school work.

"Intensive outpatient rehab sucks. It's very difficult. I went through
it twice," Rick said.

The rehab seemed to be working.

"The day he died, he had 89 days sober. I had 60," Rick
said.

Rusty had been home about 30 days when he died. Are you ready to
stop?

Rick remembers the night Rusty died. He arrived home around midnight
and went to bed. He awoke the next morning and went to the garage.
There he found Rusty laying on the ground.

"His hands were ice cold," Rick said. His first thought was that Rusty
had killed himself because there had been a couple of youth suicides
in the community. There was cocaine spilled around the garage.

The drugs weren't even for him.

"He was asked to buy 'coke' for somebody," Rick said. "This was like
giving a starving man a steak and saying don't eat it."

Rick and Amy say the pain was immense.

"You don't even know that pain yet," Amy said.

"I can't even explain the pain," Rick said.

Rusty's death represented a turning point for Rick.

"I promised [Rusty] I would never do 'coke' again and that I would
help as many kids as I can."

"God was asking me 'are you ready, are you ready now? I've taken your
son. Are you ready to stop?' " Rick said.

Immediately, Rick said he began thinking of starting what would become
Rusty's House. Donations at the funeral were the seed money.

Since then, Rusty's House has been funded by a few generous
benefactors and some small fund-raisers, including a Rusty's House
motorcycle run in the summer, organized by Rick, who is an avid biker.

Rick and Amy channel their time as well as money.

"We've put everything we've got into this thing," Rick said. One-stop
shop

In addition to Rusty's death, the need for a teen support group became
clear as, one by one, many of Rusty's friends ended up in rehab.

Rick sees Rusty's House as becoming a "one-stop shop" for teens with
substance-abuse problems. He wants the group to able to support people
when they initially seek help, help them find in-patient or
out-patient rehab if needed and then provide support when the person
leaves rehab and tries to start living as a sober person.

One of the challenges is wading through the world of insurance, Rick
said, knowing what type of rehab an insurance plan will pay for and
what it won't. Rusty's House will one day be able to pay for someone's
rehab if it gets the funding, Rick said.

Rusty's House is looking for a permanent location. It currently
operates meetings out of the Monroe Street Neighborhood Center. It is
also looking for a grant writer.

Another challenge is society turning a blind eye to substance abuse
and especially youth substance abuse, Rick said.

"Kids are dying from this," he said. "No politician will touch
it."

Rick said his life makes him the ideal person to lead a group like
Rusty's House.

"You can't get a better education than being a drug addict for 25
years," he said.

Rick and Amy say any kid can fall victim to substance
abuse.

"Rusty had everything. He didn't have a care in the world," Rick
said.

Kids have to want to quit, Rick said.

"I can't save them all, and you can't save any unless they want to be
saved," Rick said.

Quitting is hard because an addict has to change their whole life,
Rick said. They have to leave a lifestyle behind, and often friends
who are still part of that lifestyle.

Rick said he is still proud of the person his son was. He would like
to make a movie about Rusty's life.

Rick said he and Amy will never stop in their fight to keep Rusty's
memory alive and also to keep alive the lessons learned from his death.

"My whole focus is getting attention brought to this disease," Rick
said. "There is nowhere for the shy and timid in the fight against
this disease."