Legacy MattersCarol Colleran had just completed treatment for alcoholism when she learned that her oldest daughter, then only 23, had inoperable ovarian cancer. Colleran took care of her daughter until she died.
"Those 15 months that I shared so intimately with Cathy formed everything that I have done with my life," said Colleran. Cathy had a vision for her mom and didn't hesitate to share it. She told me, 'You have to go back to school and become a counselor,' " said Colleran.
Liz Best of the Palm Beach Post tells the story of the woman now considered the foremost expert on aging and addiction in the country.
Once Cathy died, Colleran's youngest child, Dan, called her and encouraged her to keep the promise she made. Colleran had no money and no job. She told Dan she couldn't do it.
"He told me that he'd decided that I was going to be his project for the next year," she said.
He sent her $750 a month for the year it took her to carry a full course load and finish school. She got a job with Hazelden in Minneapolis, then was offered a job as clinical director at the Hanley-Hazelden Center here, now known as the Hanley Center.
Colleran moved to South Florida where she learned that no one was addressing the growing problem of addiction among the elderly. The US House of Representatives' Select Committee on Aging had released a 1992 report stating that 70% of all elderly hospital admissions were for an alcohol or drug-related illness or injury.
Colleran decided to do something about it and she did, thanks to the vision of a dying daughter and the love of a son.