Born June 13, 1981, Chad was a solid 9 lbs 1 oz, beautiful red hair, ready to take on the world.  He grew up as a child in a single parent home never being deprived of anything his heart desired.  He attended Catholic school and became an alter boy.  He was kind and sweet, a heart made of gold.  He brought a smile to everyone who knew him, he was very special.  He practiced Karate and played baseball when he was very young. He played sports from the moment he could get out on the fields.  Football was his passion, he loved it from day one, and continued to love and play the sport through high school.  Chad attended Derry Area school district and became very popular with his classmates.  He was fun loving, a real comedian at times.  He had the greatest comebacks in any conversation.  He played football for the Derry Trojans and was one of the team captains his senior year.  Chad had overcome several injuries during his football career, but it never left him stop playing.  He even broke his hip his senior year, and managed to get out and play senior night and the rest of the season.  He begged the doctors for a release, cause the game meant the world to him.  If you would like to read the story on his determination, I have scanned the article for your review.  Chad graduated from Derry in 1999, his family very proud of his accomplishment.  He then attended community college a year, but found out that was not his interest.  In high school he took courses in CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) and wanted to pursue his interest in this field.  He also worked for Latrobe Plastics while in school in the Mechanical Drawing office.  This was his passion, and he wanted to continue education in this field.  He then enrolled at Triangle Tech for an associates degree in Mechanical Engineering.  He attended the fall of 2000. Chad worked full time for Tech Spec in Derry on the afternoon shift while attending Tech School.  He wanted to work while attending school to have those little extras he always wanted.  Chad bought a 1995 Jeep in fall of 2000, this was the one thing he really set his heart on, and he got it.  He worked hard for everything he had, he knew what it meant to earn his own way.  Chad lived at home with my husband and myself, in Loyalhanna and only went out with his friends on the weekends.  Chad was a follower, and I feel to this day that is what took my sons life away.  He always wanted to fit in with the crowd.  He got mixed up with the wrong crowd in the fall of 2000, unknown to myself.  He always had a time to come in each night, and that time was strictly enforced.  Chad gave me a kiss each and every night when he came home and would tell me goodnight after discussing the nights events.  Then the night came that changed my life forever.  Chad came home around 3:00am Christmas eve morning, the year 2000.  He came to my room, talked about seeing his friends home from college, and the plans he had for the week after Christmas.  He couldn't wait to go skiing with some friends from high school. He showed me two cards that two girls had given him that evening, he seemed so excited.  He then kissed me goodnight and told me he loved me.  That was last time I saw my son alive.  I went in to awaken Chad the next morning at 10:00 am to find him not breathing.  My life was over, and all I wanted to do was take his place.  God only knows why he took my son that night.  The coroner arrived and sent his body to Pittsburgh for an autopsy.  Cyril Wecht (Allegheny County Pathologist) called me that evening about 5:00 to tell me the results of  the autopsy.  It was so shocking, but yet I want people to know what happened to my son.  In his blood stream was phentynol and cocaine. The amount they found was not enough to kill a big, strong healthy 19 year old.  So they searched further to find my son had a pre-existing heart condition with some damage to his heart. And the combination of the drugs and his condition caused him to have massive heart failure. The coroner predicted my son died shortly after going to sleep, not surviving more than an hour.  It was devastating to hear this, I was a parent who asked all the questions, kept in touch all the time via cell phone.  I always knew where he was, but just not what he was doing. He seemed perfectly fine when he went to bed that night. I do not blame Chad for the mistake he made, I just hope that those of you who read this will realize, you could be the next victim.  So if you have even thought of trying drugs, remember, death is possible without over-dosing.  There is no way to know how each persons body will react...don't think "it can't happen to me", cause it did to my son.  I remember the words he told me that very afternoon when we talked about going out that evening, I did not want him to drink and if he did I told him to call me. The words that stick in my mind to this day are the words Chad said to me while lying on the couch that very afternoon... "Mom, I'm not going to be a statistic." We had a great relationship and discussed everything and I always believed, he would never even try a drug, let alone it ever take his precious life away so soon.  But now he is a statistic, the first to pass in his graduating class, he will be missed by many. To those of you with children, I can not advise what I could have done different.  I was a great parent to my son, and will hold his memories with me until the day I join him again. I just know that unless you ever experience this pain inside, you could never know what I am going through.  So please don't walk up to me and say you know how I feel, cause the death of your only child is the worst death to experience.  So when you look at your children each and everyday, hold those moments as precious, as I will never hold my son in my arms again, nor see him grow older, or have a grandchild to love, as my future will be lonely because I lost my one and only son CHAD.