Under Our Roof – A Congresswoman Fights for Her Son As He Battles Addiction
Addiction doesn’t discriminate. Substance abuse can strike individuals in poor urban areas as well as those living in wealthy suburbs. And while family members may try to help, they are often helpless, forced to watch a loved one’s descent into a world where nothing else matters except finding that next fix.
Pennsylvania Congresswoman Madeleine Dean gained national attention when she served as one of the House Managers during the recent impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump. She is now using her platform to bring attention to drug addiction. For ten years, her middle son, Harry Cunnane, used drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, and heroin. But it was his addiction to opioids that finally saw him crash and burn, forcing his parents to insist he enter a rehabilitation facility. That move, which he resisted, saved his life. Under Our Roof, co-written by this mother and son team, is an up close and personal look at how addiction affects, not only the addict, but also family and friends.
As a teen, Harry seemed to have everything going for him – loving parents, two supportive brothers, and a place at one of the most exclusive private schools in Philadelphia. While Dean says that Harry “literally bounced” into St. Joseph’s Preparatory High School, making the football team in his freshman year, despite only weighing 103 pounds, four years later, with his habits and friends changed, Harry “had to be dragged across the graduation line.” Dean was worried. Harry was pale and was always tired. Even his teeth looked “lousy.” Dean’s sections in the book under MAD, relate to her initials, but could easily refer to her emotions while she struggled with Harry. She was mad and her attempts to find answers to Harry’s decline were, for the most part, unsuccessful.
Addicts become skilled liars. Harry was adept at inventing stories to cover up his drug use, so much so that Dean observes “that would’ve made Harry’s Irish grandfather proud.” Dean gathered what little information she could, going through his pockets when doing the laundry, searching his room. (For the record, many parents who spy on their children turn up little useful information and succeed in alienating their children even more.)
What causes one child to fall prey to addiction while siblings manage to steer clear? Harry’s older brother – “Pat the Perfect” – graduated from the University of Miami and went to work in the Obama White House, while Harry’s younger brother, Alex, “the baby,” was creative and able to convince his parents to do “just about anything.” Harry sat in the middle “raised under the same roof, but with a feeling of being miles apart.” Over time those feelings caused Harry to direct “all of my energy away from home, toward friends and newfound hobbies.” Too often those “hobbies” included drugs. And while Harry’s high school was elite, it was located in an area of Philadelphia where it was easy to score drugs. He also found friends at the school who were more than eager to join him in using.
Despite Harry’s drug use, he managed to get through high school and gained admittance into several prestigious colleges. He chose the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Dean was pleased, being familiar with the city because several relatives lived there. Harry believed being far away from Philadelphia would give him a fresh start. He could leave his drug use behind. But within hours of being dropped off, his roommate produced weed and they ended up smoking. Soon, Harry was out looking for a stronger fix. Remarkably, Harry ended his first semester with a 3.75 average. “Test taking came naturally to me, so I never felt that I had to study,” Harry says. But he decided not to return to Charleston, instead enrolling in La Salle University where Dean was a professor.
While the move brought Harry closer to home, the distance between him and Dean continued to grow. It was during this time that Harry “fell in love with pills,” specifically Percocet. Harry thus became part of the national opioid epidemic, a health crisis that has claimed millions of lives while bringing in millions of dollars in profits to the drug companies, doctors, and pharmacies that doled out these highly addictive painkillers.
His drug use escalating, Harry faced disciplinary action at La Salle and dropped out. He began to work in the warehouse of his father’s bicycle business while living with his girlfriend who was still enrolled in nursing school. When his girlfriend got pregnant, Harry once again believed he could get clean, using Suboxone, a medication often prescribed to help curb opioid addiction. But Suboxone can also be addictive. Harry began stealing his father’s ATM card to support the cost of his habit. The bank statements created a paper trail, evidence that Harry’s situation was serious enough to call for an intervention. Dean asked Harry if he was ready to get help. He said yes and they made arrangements for him to be treated at the Caron Foundation.
Recovery is a tough road. The professionals treating Harry at Caron felt that his month-long stay was not enough and recommended longer-term treatment, another 90 days. Rather than stay at Caron, his family chose Little Creek, a halfway house for young men near Scranton. While Harry initially was angry, he realized he was “far less capable of living than I believed.” At Little Creek, he formed some of the relationships that would aid him in post recovery. Going to 12-step meetings became routine.
“As time went on, my self-loathing turned to self-love,” he says. “I hadn’t used drugs in three years, then four, and the promises that had been made to me in treatment were coming true before my eyes.” While Harry didn’t stay with his girlfriend, he continued to be a father to his daughter, Aubrey. He married Juliet, who also worked at the bicycle company, and besides Aubrey, they now have a son, Sawyer.
During all of Harry’s ups and downs, Dean still managed to forge ahead in her career, first winning local elections, including being elected and then reelected to the Pennsylvania State Senate, before finally being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Madeleine is a practicing Catholic and she drew on her faith for support and comfort during challenges in both her personal and professional lives. Harry describes his mother as standing “five foot four, yet in her own way she’s intimidatingly strong. Smart and driven. Filled with strong beliefs. Throughout my childhood, she stood at my side, ready to take on the world with me. A powerful love that she often expressed through worry.”
Both Harry and Madeleine understand that their family is fortunate, able to have afforded the care that Harry desperately needed. Harry also notes that a “recovery program doesn’t, and didn’t save everyone.” Some of his friends died, at least one ended up in prison. Harry remains an active member of the addiction recovery community and volunteers at rehabilitation facilities and prisons around Philadelphia to speak about his own experiences and offer hope to those battling addiction. And from her position in Congress, a member of the House Judiciary and House Financial Services Committees, as well as vice chair of the Bipartisan Women’s Caucus, Dean will continue to raise awareness of a national crisis that continues to claim too many lives.
Under Our Roof
Madeleine Dean and Harry Cunnane
Top: Harry Cunnane and Madeleine Dean, Photo Credit: Alex Cunnane
Charlene Giannetti is one of the producers for the film “Life After You,” about the opioid/heroin epidemic, which will be released in 2022.
