By Mary Pritchard, Contributing Writer
Marlborough – When Nicolette “Nico” Faulkingham was anticipating her 12th birthday, she could not have imagined how her life was about to change. Just days before her birthday, she experienced the first of two devastating jolts that would send her life into a tailspin.
“My father died of a massive heart attack while hiking in December 2003,” Nico said. “Three months later, I woke up to find my mother lying at the bottom of the stairs. She had fallen and died of head trauma. Suddenly my brother and I had no parents.”
She and her brother, Gerrott, 16 at the time, moved in with their aunt and uncle.
Nico was desperate to ease the pain of her profound loss.
“I turned to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain and make me forget everything,” she said. “I began smoking cigarettes at 13, and then using pot. When that wasn's strong enough anymore, I began drinking heavily, and I hid it well. Soon I needed to smoke and drink before school. My friends saw what I was doing to myself and asked me to stop, but I wasn's ready.”
Nico said waking up in the hospital after an alcohol overdose, was not even enough to stop her. She began using pain pills and sleeping pills.
“My grades were dropping dramatically,” she said. “I had always been a straight-A student and athlete. The pills made me violent and suicidal. At 17, I carved words into my arm and after a friend made me tell, I was sent to a psych ward.”
A member of Marlborough High School's (MHS) Class of 2011, Nico eventually stopped going to school.
“I's been in and out of psych wards and didn's see the point in going to school. I thought I was immune to everything and nothing bad was going to happen to me, but I was throwing my life away.”
Her addiction led to some trouble, which resulted in a stay at a correctional facility.
“Most people didn's know where I was,” she said. “There was no way to sneak drugs, no choice but to be sober. School was a privilege there if you'se good and I never wanted to get school taken away – I earned a high school diploma and I's proud of that, but I missed my proms and walking across the stage at graduation.”
A visit with her former health teacher Amy Chirco, who also knew Nico from the SADD and Fitness Clubs at MHS, led to a new ambition for the now 19-year-old.
“I wanted to explain to her where I had been and what happened,” Nico said. “Mrs. Chirco asked if I would speak to students in her health classes about my experience – the thought of my story helping others – I was all for it.”
Chirco envisioned the impact Nico could have on her students.
“When Nico walked into my room, I was so happy to see her,” she said. “She told me about the previous 18 months. I thought, “Nico sat exactly where they are sitting and she is still a teenager…maybe my students would listen to someone who was so low and now here she is…happy, strong, drug-free and going to college.” I consider it a story of survival.”
Chirco was delighted with Nico's presentation to students.
“I was so proud of her during her presentation,” she said. “Her poise and the way she handled the classes – she was a pro. She spoke from the heart and the students felt that everything she told them was the truth, not someone lecturing them. She wants to continue to speak out in hopes that she can save someone else from making the same mistakes that she made. She was dealt some real tragic circumstances at such a young age, and she eventually overcame her adversity. She is a true hero in my eyes and my students” too. ”
Nico, who hopes to speak in more local schools, says she received many thank-you notes from students at MHS.
“This is my way of giving back for the support that was given to me,” she said. “Freedom is a choice and a privilege that people take for granted. I look at my life and all the people who never gave up on me. I wouldn's wish for anyone to go down the path I did. I want to keep kids away from drugs and alcohol – it's so hard to get off them and you have to want to. You lose respect, trust, friends and family – it's sad.”
Now living in Shrewsbury with a friend's family, Nico notes her love for her family; particularly her aunt, uncle and brother.
“My brother is the most important person in my life. Gerrott is my inspiration to stay clean and sober. I don's want to ever do anything that would keep me away from him again,” she said. “People ask me if I would change anything. I'se never been so confident in an answer in my life; every choice I made got me here and I's proud of where I am. I made the bad choices but also made choices to better myself.”