'Who Is it' brief essay A

Nigel Ryan McKenna was born in a city named flint in the U.S state of Michigan in 1952. He was born into a large wealthy family who owned a business named MK ltd., which specialised in lending money and helping with loan repayments. He had a very strict disciplined childhood, which he strongly disliked and always longed for more freedom. He was a quiet boy who most of the time liked to be alone. Sometimes he would sneakily pack his school bag with his toothbrush, a torch, his action man toys and his sleeping bag with his favourite peanut butter sandwiches, and skip school to go and sit beside a lake 2 miles from his house, just listening to the ambience and peacefulness. Every year through school Nigel achieved the record high score for most of the tests he sat, even though his attendance was way below par. The teachers believed he would go on to do great things, and before he knew it he was leaving school and heading into the real world. In 1967, when Nigel’s father died, he took full ownership of the business and married to his wife Jess McKenna, and had two children, Rose and Sarah McKenna. Struggling with running the business and the stress of having a family to look after, Nigel slowly started to become attached to alcohol, he would come home from work late, drunk and then polish off eight to twelve Jack Daniels a night. His wife and kids were ashamed to see there once respectable father and husband crumble, and eventually left him four years into their marriage. Nigel was devastated and began to drink more and more as the days went past, he knew what he was becoming and what he had lost but could not get himself out of the dark abyss he was currently in. six months had passed and the business was steadily declining into recession, Nigel decided to sell and did so. He received $1,550,995 for the business and had started rehab for his alcohol disorder. He moved to New York and bought a high-class eight-bedroom house on the outskirts of Manhattan. Things were looking good, but he was lonely and nothing he was passionate about. With no job and nothing to do to occupy his time except smoke cigars and lounge around his house all day, he decided to take up gambling. Roulette, blackjack, poker, and baccarat you name it he played it. It began to get more and more serious, betting ridiculous amounts of money thinking it will never end, all he could think of is that his life was one big addiction. One morning he decided to mortgage his house and put the money on a 50/50 chance on the roulette. A local television company was aware of what he was doing and decided to get people to vote for which colour he was going to put his money on, in the end the votes were 65% in reds favour and he went with the publics decision. He walked out with over $1.2 million dollars, which he decided to give to charity. He packed his bags with a toothbrush and a sleeping bag and lay under a bus stop on the streets of New York. He felt that it brought his childhood memory back where he had no worries and was free basically. Nigel was homeless for over two and a half years, and in 1976 he applied for the New York police department, where he was surprisingly accepted, as they believed he had the intelligence and determination to become a successful officer. This was a turning point in his life and Nigel married again in 1984 and began a new life with a new family. Sadly in 2004 Nigel was diagnosed with lung cancer and died at the age of 52 and was described by his wife and family as a special man who was mostly in the wrong place at the wrong time and who was loved by all.