James Patterson - Torn Apart: The True Story of a Childhood Lost

Torn Apart is the true story of one familys courage, heartbreak, sacrifice and, ultimately, triumph.

Cory Friedman was an ordinary fun-loving little boy. But one fateful March morning in 1989, Corys life changed dramatically and was left in tatters.

Cory had developed a rare combination of neurological conditions. The life he knew had been torn apart and his family were left watching him suffer. Desperate to help, they embarked on a fifteen-year struggle which took them beyond breaking point.

James Patterson is one of the best-known and biggest-selling writers of all time. His books have sold in excess of 365 million copies worldwide. He is the author of some of the most popular series of the past two decades the Alex Cross, Womens Murder Club, Detective Michael Bennett and Private novels and he has written many other number one bestsellers including romance novels and stand-alone thrillers.

James is passionate about encouraging children to read. Inspired by his own son who was a reluctant reader, he also writes a range of books for young readers including the Middle School, I Funny, Treasure Hunters, House of Robots, Confessions, and Maximum Ride series. James has donated millions in grants to independent bookshops and has been the most borrowed author of adult fiction in UK libraries for the past eleven years in a row. He lives in Florida with his wife and son.

Hal Friedman has published five works of fiction. He lives with his wife, Sophia, at the edge of a forest in northern New Jersey.

IN JANUARY 2002 , my son lay in the darkened basement of our house in a downward spiral of depression, alcohol addiction, and hopelessness, and he made the decision to change. He did it himself. Roughly three months later, he began to reclaim his life with astonishing new strength and an irrepressible determination to beat the overwhelming odds against him.

It had taken years of debilitating neurological problems to bring Cory close to his breaking point. He suffered from one of the most complex cases of OCD, Tourettes syndrome, and anxiety disorder his doctors had ever seen. Even though our family lived through each and every moment of his resurrection, we could hardly believe that his recovery had happened. It was a miracle.

When the members of the high school administration decided to allow Cory to complete his junior year, they laid out a daunting number of requirements. In addition to having to take the new midterms, he had to make up some past midterm exams, including the history test, on which he received an A. Several weeks later, he took the final history exam for the fall semester, which he also aced. These accomplishments were achieved in major part by his studying hundreds of three-by-five note cards prepared and gone over time and again by his mother. Maybe a hundred hours worth.

Corys English teacher waived all the past smaller assignments and asked only for the junior-year formal paper. He completed this task as well, a phenomenal essay on Walt Whitman for which he also got an A.

After that spectacular show of what he could do, and because most of the teachers and administrators really were on his side, they had no choice but to pass him on to the next semester.

After that, Cory had only one surprising request, a very revealing one: that he be allowed to take a few advanced courses instead of just basic ones. He had won his chance to prove himself, and thats what he set out to do.

During the remainder of that school year, teachers and students alike were astonished to see what the boy who once came to only a few basic-level classes a dayand for a while in a wheelchairwas capable of.

In the little time left in the spring term, Cory completed practically two terms at once without missing a single day. In the end he satisfied all of the schools criteria, passed every exam, and earned an A average. His teachers voted him the most-improved student in a high school of seven hundred.

In his senior year, Corys progress continued just as dramatically.

That spring his name was called at the graduation ceremony on the same field where hed once thrilled the crowd with his football play. On that fateful day the tears flowed freely, and not just from our family.

The main credit, of course, goes to Cory himself and his irrepressible spirit; also to one very special therapist who never left us even after she moved away; and to a few wonderful champions he had in our school system.

It also helped, we believe, that Cory was always toldand therefore always assumedthere was nothing in life he couldnt accomplish, no matter what the obstacles.

Corys mother, his true angel, never faltered in that arena. Not once did I ever see my wife, Sophia, let up under pressure or give in to despair. She has always been, and remains, an endlessly loving, unselfish, and giving human being with no other agenda than her familys well-being. I am certain beyond a doubt that her strength has become Corys, not to mention mine.

During his senior year, Cory applied to a number of colleges with the rest of his classmates. His rsum was unlike any of theirs, however. To offset gaps in his formal education caused by absences, he created a unique portfolio that presented an unusual record of achievements outside the classroom. This included his experience on the computer, his place of refuge during years of isolation from friends.

One day in April 2003, a little more than a year after he walked out of the wilderness camp, Cory opened a letter that informed him that, against all odds, hed been accepted into the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University. This was a moment for Cory and the rest of our family that was simply impossible to describe.

At Syracuse, Corys professors were so impressed with his computer marketing knowledge that he was offered his own office in the Information Studies School, one of only six, and he was even asked to lecture at one of their classes. He became the lead singer in a band and performed in front of hundreds of students, once receiving a cheering ovation from the same basketball team that had won a national championship.

As of this writing, some of Corys physical symptoms still return, but they are nowhere near as severe as they used to be. He is on very little medicine, and hes not taking anything that coincided with a worsening of his symptoms in the past. Our family is convinced that his most extreme symptoms were caused by medications prescribed in good faith but with unhappy results, almost without exception. Corys battle to control OCD has been more successful, as he brings to bear his hard-won coping skills from Wellington. His optimism knows no bounds.

A complete cure for Tourettes remains elusive. Within the past few years, however, a young man with a vastly more extreme movement disorder had a pioneering operation at the Cleveland Clinic. From reports weve heard, it stopped all of his symptoms instantly.

Since then a number of operations involving Tourettes patients have been performed at this clinic and at other hospitals around the world. Exact information on their success is difficult to obtain, as official clearance is still pending, but we have heard that the results are promising, and there will be more trials.

Today, Cory is deeply involved in Internet marketing and has created a number of fledgling businesses of his own. He frequently makes trips to New York City to sing at karaoke clubs and is a lead singer in a really good band in New Jersey thats just formed. As always, no obstacle seems too great for him.