Carolyn Marie Jerome was born on July 24th 1992. She was a miracle for a family that wanted nothing more than a child, but could not conceive. Joe and Sharon Jerome were blessed with their adopted bundle of joy on July 27th 1992.
Growing up Carolyn was an extremely intelligent child. She could read and write at a very early age. She loved puzzles and animals. She was a phenomenal baker, dancer, and painter. She was raised in a Catholic family and attended parochial school from grades K through 8th. Unexpectedly, Sharon and Joe were blessed with their second child in 1994 and Carolyn became a big sister to Katie.
Carolyn was an outgoing ray of sunshine and always a leader to her younger sister.

Carolyn and Katie were often dressed alike head to toe including matching hair bows and were always asked if they were twins, even with the 2 1/2 year age gap. Although Carolyn was adopted, there was never a question of who she was or who were her family. Sharon and Joe were her parents and Katie was her sister. The biological aspect did not matter because God made them a family.
Carolyn was faced with hardships growing up, such as being bullied for being short. Always supportive, her family had her in therapy from a young age hoping to help her self-esteem.

As she grew older, she struggled with her identity and friendships and even with feelings of abandonment from her birth parents. She began a battle with self-harm. Her self-image was distorted. Her emotion were often unstable and her interpersonal relationships chaotic. Her behavior was impulsive and sometimes dangerous. She pushed boundaries and her view of reality was distorted. She was plagued with fits of anxiety, depression and anger.
 
Sharon and Joe had difficulty finding the right treatment for her. They took her to different therapists but were told many times that she would grow out of the behavior and that she was “fine”. They continued their search to help their daughter but found that mental health resources were scarcely talked about and had a negative stigma to the topic. It was really hard to find the information and help they needed for her.

Even with her struggles, Carolyn grew to have big dreams. After high school, she attended Cuyahoga Community College. Her freshman year she flourished academically. She landed herself on the dean’s list and in student government. She was interested in a few career paths including psychology, creative writing (being a high school English teacher) and physical therapy. She later decided she wanted to get a doctorate in physical therapy.

When it seemed like Carolyn was doing so well, that’s when she would tend to “shoot herself in the foot”. This self-damaging behavior is often associated with Borderline Personality Disorder or BPD.

Carolyn began to fall again her sophomore year of college. She was seeing a counselor who worked with the whole family in trying to help her. She was self-harming again and was struggling with thoughts of suicide. She came to her mother and told her she wanted to end her life. Sharon and Joe immediately called her therapist who said to take her to Lutheran Hospital. The doctor did not think it was serious enough to admit her. And three weeks later, in the fall of 2013, they learned Carolyn was using heroin. When her family found out, they had an intervention and looked everywhere to find her the correct treatment. Carolyn needed more than the cookie cutter approach to addiction, she needed seriously mental health treatment as well. When she went to rehab, she was unable to find the mental health resources she so desperately needed along with treatment for her heroin addiction and she did not continue with the program. Addiction is normally treated with a 12-step approach. But that was not successful approach for Carolyn who we later learned was dealing with a dual diagnosis. This 12-step approach, while effective for some, does not work for all addicts.

In May 2014 Carolyn was arrested and was put into drug court. With the desperate plea to get her help, her attorney father Joe asked the judge if the family could pay for a long term private rehab where a bed was already secured for her. They offered to pay out of pocket and to follow all the rules of the court. Carolyn needed a longer stint than 30 or 90 days and agreed to it. She wanted to get help even in her darkest times. If the courts would permit Carolyn to go to a private facility, that would open up a bed for another addict who needed it. In rehab there are usually not enough beds for those that need them. Unfortunately the request was denied and she was sent to a local facility - the Hitchcock Center for Women in Cleveland.
Carolyn worked tirelessly on her sobriety but found she needed help with her mental health. She asked if she could have her private counselor see her at Hitchcock. The request by Carolyn and her family was approved and she was able to have private sessions with her licensed professional mental health counselor. Being sober, Carolyn was able to be correctly diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. This finally made sense. Her distorted view on reality and her self-image issues along with her impulsive behavior and unstable emotions all made sense. She was so relieved to understand why she felt this way and give it a name.

However, when she was released from rehab, she was scared. Carolyn and her family felt that court system and Hitchcock Center did not prepare her to go back to the real world and stay sober. The day she left, she was worried about making it and staying sober. She even told her family she wasn’t sure she was ready to leave and they asked if she wanted to stay, but she decided to come home.
Joe, Sharon and Katie had been preparing for Carolyn’s homecoming. Carolyn signed off on release forms that allowed the court system counseling services and her private counselor to speak to her parents and sister about her sessions and her health. The family went to counseling and tried to prepare themselves to be the best support system they could. Throughout her time in rehab, her family had been taking classes to understand her illness and visiting her as often as they could.

The day Carolyn came home, she was welcomed home with an abundance of love and support including a sign in her room that said “We have FAITH in you!” Katie even sang a song she wrote for her big sister while she was away. It was called “God Save My Sister”. With many tears, the family was happy to have their girl back but worried about her staying sober and getting her the best help they could for her BPD as well.

Within 2 weeks of Carolyn’s homecoming, she relapsed and for a while, no one knew. Joe, Sharon and Katie knew something wasn’t right when she missed her appointment with her court appointed counselor and was ignoring her family’s calls. When she came home, Sharon and Katie took her to her court appointed counselor at Moore Counseling and her urine test came up clean with no drugs in her system. It seemed odd after her behavior, but the test came up clean. A few days later, Carolyn had a follow up in court to learn how to properly use Narcan. It was revealed she had relapsed as a surprise drug test occurred. However, when the court found out, they sent her home without any repercussions. They did not keep her to detox and they did not notify her family as they had the legal release to do so. Usually Sharon, Katie or Joe would attend court with her but she insisted she would be fine to go alone this time. Ashamed of her relapse, Carolyn did not tell her family, but they knew something wasn’t right. It was only 3 days later that Carolyn died.

On August 22nd 2014, Carolyn left home promising to return later to go to the store with her mother and sister. Early that evening she spoke to each her mom and dad on the phone - what no one knew is that this would be their last conversation with their daughter.

That evening Carolyn didn’t return home. She was unresponsive to her cell phone. Sharon, Joe and Katie tried to call her repeatedly even trying to message her on Facebook. Her Facebook messaging system showed her status as “active” so her family believed she was ignoring them. Sharon and Katie drove around places she might be, looking for her car and even called some friends hoping to find her but they had no luck.

The next morning, there was no response from Carolyn. Her parents and sister decided together that if she did not contact them by noon they would be calling her counselor notifying them of her absence. The police would not consider this a missing persons case as it was too short of a time frame. Around noon on Saturday August 23rd 2014 the family received a call from the Cleveland Metropark Rangers. They informed the family that they found her car and they needed to speak with them in person. That day, their world fell apart. It crumbled. At the age of 22 years old, Carolyn Marie had overdosed on heroin and died Friday evening around 7 o’clock p.m. on August 22nd.

But this was not the end of Carolyn’s story. In the summer or 2015, Carolyn’s family and friends created “Team Carolyn”. Team Carolyn was created for the Greater Cleveland NAMIWalk of 2015 in Associates with the National Alliance on Mental Illness. They held a fundraiser, sold wristbands and educated people of the community on Carolyn’s story. That year, they were a top fundraiser team and led the NAMIWalk with a banner with their angel’s face on it that read “Team Carolyn”.
Team Carolyn has become much more than they had ever expected. Team Carolyn focuses on ending the stigma on mental illness and addiction. They work to educate people on the subjects and how they are so closely related in many cases like Carolyn’s. Team Carolyn started as a way to keep Carolyn’s memory alive but has become a phenomenon with their signature pink bow logo. Team Carolyn strives to help others in the community by starting a dialogue, providing resources to those who are struggling or have family and friends in the same situation, and giving hope. Team Carolyn is here to make a difference in Carolyn’s honor.