SHOWS FOR YOUNGSTERS AND THEIR PARENTS TOO : Most muscular man on campus? ‘Lifestories’ looks at the heavy price

A high school football player’s quest to be bigger and stronger leads to steroid abuse in “A Body to Die For: The Aaron Henry Story,” one in a series of HBO Lifestories: Families in Crisis.

“Aaron’s story was so all-American,” says producer Francine LeFrak (HBO’s “Blood Brothers: The Joey DiPaolo Story”), who first read about Henry in “Reader’s Digest.” “He was this football player who wanted to be the best and was a perfectionist and pushed himself so hard. I was looking for someone who was willing to talk about his steroid use and Aaron was. I thought that was incredibly brave.”

His steroid use became “a spin cycle,” Henry says. “You need more and more.” Recent medical journal studies estimate that a quarter to a half-million teen-agers use steroids.

“Teens don’t often look at the consequences of the easy and quick way,” LeFrak says.

Henry, who took anabolic steroids for two years, has had two heart attacks, two kidney operations, three back surgeries and an ulcerated stomach. Three-fourths of his lumbar (lower-back disc), as well as an inch of his spine, were removed, and he suffered repeated disc injuries.

“My immunities have been affected and I get sick easily,” he says says from his St. Louis home.

Henry has since learned that steroids are addictive, destructive and illegal. His impatience for a bigger, stronger body, coupled with a ignorance of the side effects, led to mental and physical deterioration.

He says his drive for a beautiful body evolved from how “everything you read or see is a depiction of perfection through physical beauty.” He’s concerned that other teens share that impression. “I’m still that extreme perfectionist, but my goals have changed. Maturity took that ignorance of my youth away,” he adds.

Now a 27-year-old student of ecocardiology, Henry works with his mother in the family antique store. His continuing rehabilitation has been slow; he lifts weights and does aerobics three days a week. He also speaks publicly about his abuse and tells parents how to detect possible steroid use in their children.

“My sister’s a clinical psychologist, and she knew I was doing drugs--I changed so much,” Henry says. “But she didn’t know what kind of drug I was doing.”

Signs of steroid use, according to Henry, are rapid weight gain, blotchy skin, acne in some cases and increased irritability. “Look for a real defensiveness,” he says. “That really happened to me. I would have done anything to defend my use.”

Henry says that he now realizes that, for an athlete, steroids are “cheating” and the results are false. “What I attained synthetically wasn’t really mine,” he says. “It was from a syringe.”

“This kid saved his own life and, in a way, he’s a real hero,” LeFrak says.

She adds unapologetically: “This is not an afterschool-style special. There’s no sweetness to this story. It’s very edgy, gritty, hard-hitting and uncompromising in how far it goes. There’s no whitewash.”

“A Body to Die For: The Aaron Henry Story’ ” airs 7-7:30 a.m. Sunday and 9:30-10 p.m. Wednesday on HBO. Parents are advised that there are graphic depictions of steroid use. For ages 10 and up.

More Family Shows

Pot and peer pressure are the focus of this week’s Ghostwriter (Sunday 6-6:30 p.m. KCET). In “What’s Up With Alex?,” Alex (David Lopez) is pressured to smoke marijuana by Kevin, a “cool” friend he admires and respects. Alex wrestles with his decision and ultimately rejects the idea that “drugs are cool.”

There are suggestions on: what to do when confronted with drugs, how to avoid becoming involved and who to turn to for guidance, including family, friends and a school counselor.

“Ghostwriter’s” director of research, Eve Hall, says studies revealed that a primary concern among the show’s target audience is the threat of pressure to do drugs and the presence of these drugs in society. For ages 7 to 14.

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On Monday, The Muppets (11:30 a.m.-noon Nickelodeon) join “The Muppet Babies” (11-11:30 a.m.) on Nick Jr., turning the block into “The Jim Henson Muppet Hour.” For ages 18 months to 7.