By REBEL WYLIE
Updated:
When Richard knocked on his mother's hotel room door in Las Vegas on Mother's Day weekend in 2016, he was carrying roses.
asserted
he → update → roses
With Mother's Day and Richard's birthday falling together, Ann Marie Farino had flown to Sin City to spend the weekend with her son.
asserted
Farino → fall → son
At 24, his life seemed to be settling into place.
asserted
life → seem → place
He had been sober for three years, had a job and had fallen in love.
asserted
He → have → love
He was engaged to be married that September, and Ann Marie had already started doing the calligraphy for his wedding invitations.
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Marie → engage → invitations
But when she opened the door, something about Richard felt wrong.
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something → open → Richard
'He said, "Now you're here.
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you → say → ?
Now, hopefully, I'll be okay,"' Ann Marie tells the Daily Mail.
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Marie → tell → Mail
Over the next few days, Richard began handing things to his mother: his keys, his computer, even a piece of needlepoint she had made for his birthday.
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she → begin → birthday
When Ann Marie gave him some family photographs, he stared at an image of himself and said, 'I look so ugly.'
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I → give → himself
She tried to persuade him to see a therapist, but Richard told her he would go after she left.
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she → try → her
When it was time to say goodbye, Ann Marie hugged him at the hotel door, pressing her cheek against his as she had done with all her children since they were small.
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they → say → children
As she left, the doorman called after her to come back soon.
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doorman → leave → her
'I said, "I won't be back soon,"' Ann Marie says.
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Marie → say → ?
Even now, she doesn't know why she said it.
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she → know → it
'He swung from the treetops'
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He → swing → treetops
Before the worry, Richard was the child who could make Ann Marie laugh.
uncertain
Marie → make → worry
He was social and charismatic, with a huge heart and an epic sense of humour that often played out between the two of them.
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that → play → them
Even reading a menu could become a running joke, the pair batting comments back and forth.
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pair → read → comments
Ann Marie and her son Richard (pictured together) were close - but from a young age, he struggled with mental health and drug addiction
Ann-Marie is pictured with Richard when he was a baby
Somtimes, Richard would withdraw, and there were periods of depression and anxiety that seemed at odds with the funny, outgoing boy everyone else saw
He was handsome, Ann Marie says, although he never seemed to know it.
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he → picture → it
By about 12, some of that mischief was getting him into trouble.
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some → get → trouble
There were pranks at school and calls from the principal, followed as he grew older by adventures that carried more risk.
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that → be → risk
'He was the kid who didn't go down the road less travelled,' Ann Marie says.
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Marie → go → road
'This kid swung from the treetops.
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kid → swing → treetops
When one of those adventures went wrong, there was often a familiar call to his mother asking for help.
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one → go → help
Ann Marie invariably went.
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Marie → go → ?
But she was also beginning to see another side of the boy who could fill a room.
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who → begin → room
Richard would withdraw, and there were periods of depression and anxiety that seemed at odds with the funny, outgoing son everyone else saw.
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everyone → withdraw → son
Long before drugs became part of his life, Ann Marie knew there was something inside her son that she couldn't fix for him.
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she → become → him
'Mum, it makes me feel normal'
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me → make → ?
Ann Marie first caught Richard smoking marijuana beside their house during his first year of high school.
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Richard → catch → school
She told him he couldn't live his life like this.
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he → tell → this
One day he would need a job, employers could drug-test him, and the choices he was making as a teenager could follow him into adulthood.
uncertain
he → need → adulthood
Richard had found love and was planning his wedding when he tragically took his own life
Mother and son were incredibly close
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Mother → find → life
Richard looked at her and said something she would understand very differently years later.
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she → look → something
'It makes me feel normal.'
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me → make → ?
At the time, Ann Marie was focused on stopping his drug use.
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Marie → focus → use
Richard was also struggling with his mental health.
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Richard → struggle → health
She says he was diagnosed with a depressive disorder and anxiety, while doctors raised the possibility of bipolar disorder, although that was never confirmed.
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that → say → disorder
The drug use became more serious.
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use → become → ?
…and 123 more, not listed.
The Aporia
