Mother who lost son to ISIS now helps families with radicalized kids

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Christianne Boudreau's son Damien Clairmont converted to Islam at the age of 17, after being bullied in high school
Damien eventually became radicalized and moved to Syria to fight for ISIS
He was killed in January 2014 in Aleppo
Mrs Boudreau now helps other families whose children have become radicalized

Published: 08:45 EST, 19 April 2015 | Updated: 09:58 EST, 19 April 2015

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A Canadian woman whose son died fighting for the Islamic State is now working to stop the extremist group from taking advantage of more vulnerable young men and women in North America.

Christianne Boudreau thought her son Damien Clairmont was going to Egypt to study Arabic in 2013, but Canadian authorities later told the Calgary mother that her son had instead gone to Turkey where he crossed the border into Syria to join ISIS.

While Damien had become more extreme in his Islamic ideology before he left Canada, Ms Boudreau never imagined her shy and peaceful son would actually become a jihadi.

'I thought it was just a phase he was going through,' Ms Boudreau told NBC News.

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A mother's grief: Christianne Boudreau of Calgary, Canada lost her son last year when he was killed fighting for ISIS in Syria

Helping others: The Canadian mother is now working with other families worried about their radicalized children. Boudreau pictured above (left) with her son Damien Clairmont, right

Ms Boudreau is now dealing with the loss of her son by channeling her grief into work - helping families like hers from losing their radicalized children to the extremist group.

Ms Boudreau says she raised her son Damien in a Catholic household, but he converted to Islam at the age of 17 while he was having a hard time in high school.

Damien was severely bullied, and even considered suicide during this painful period, his mother revealed.

So Ms Boudreau was more relieved than worried when he found solace in Islam and started becoming more social again.

Helping to deal: Ms Boudreau says her son Damien was bullied in high school and turned to Islam for solace in 17

Radicalization: However, Ms Boudreau says her son's interested in the religion took a turn in 2011 when he started growing his beard out and distancing himself from the family

'I saw some positive changes start to happen,' Ms Boudreau told CNN in February. 'He became social again. The old Damian that I knew when he was younger, much younger, was starting to come out.'

But Ms Boudreau says her son's interest in Islam took a turn in 2011 when he started distancing himself from the family, growing his beard out and refusing to sit at the dinner table when they were drinking wine.

I'm proud of who he was, I'm proud of what his heart was truly. I'm not proud of the choices he made.

She believes someone in Calgary started radicalizing her son - a process that continued when he searched extremist materials online.

Ms Boudreau believes ISIS manipulated her vulnerable son into wanting to join their jihad by appealing to his protective nature.

'I think they got into his head believing that he was saving women and children, and he was very passionate about women and children and felt that they were easy targets,' Ms Boudreau said.

Telling his family that he was going to Egypt to study Arabic, Damien left home in November 2012 and traveled to Istanbul where he attended a training camp and eventually crossed the border into war-torn Syria.

Ms Boudreau found out about her son's death in January 2014, when a journalist called trying to confirm his death which was published online. He was 22.

When Ms Boudreau reached out to the fighter who tweeted a eulogy for her son, he wrote an open letter to her online, saying she should be proud of her son and join ISIS in his memory.

When asked what she feels about her son's decision to join ISIS, Ms Boudreau says: 'I'm proud of who he was, I'm proud of what his heart was truly. I'm not proud of the choices he made.'

Ms Boudreau says that at the time she lost her son to ISIS, there weren't many organizations she could turn for support about her son.

Ms Boudreau is now changing that by working with the families of radicalized young men and women, in an attempt to stop the spread of more homegrown terrorism.

'I can't let Damien die in vain,' Ms Boudreau said. 'Knowing what I went through - that really dark, dark tunnel of loneliness and fear and desperation - I don't want anybody else to go through that.'