Parents of Opioid Victims Share Why They’re Fighting to End the Epidemic
Meet four parents who are fighting to bring awareness to the epidemic that took their children’s lives.
Don Flattery
Fairfax, Virginia
I lost Kevin, my only son, to an opioid overdose two years ago. Kevin was 26 and an example of how the stereotype of an opioid addict has changed over the years. He lived a blessed life. He was involved in student activities, graduated from the University of Virginia, and went on to become a very talented filmmaker. Unfortunately, like many people who suffer from addiction, he was self-medicating with OxyContin, a widely available opioid, to treat his depression and anxiety issues. He told me that he didn’t think his oxy use was a big deal. And that’s one of the pitfalls of this epidemic: Too many people underestimate the power of these drugs.
Soon after the loss of my son, I left my job to devote my life toward advocacy for this epidemic — knocking on doors, talking to Members of Congress, whatever it takes. I strongly believe that one of the most important issues is making sure people get effective treatment. My son sought all forms of treatment, like many people struggling with addiction. He was prescribed buprenorphine, a medication that is proven to treat opioid use disorder. But he was met with judgment and stigma, and eventually decided to go the ‘abstinence-only’ route. It was just 64 days after he went off this medication that he succumbed to an overdose. Some people are opposed to medication-assisted treatment — they think it’s just substituting one addiction for another. But in reality, they help to stabilize lives. That’s why I’m 100 percent behind President Obama’s budget proposal, which puts forward $920 million to help states build capacity for evidence-based treatment. This a serious response to a major treatment gap in our country.
Louella Duran
Albuquerque, New Mexico
At one point in my son’s two and a half year struggle with heroin addiction, he went through a period of recovery, and was asked to be a speaker for a local nonprofit group, Healing Addiction in Our Community, to talk about the steps he took to beat his addiction. But there ended up being a storm that night, and the event was cancelled. For whatever reason that night, my son went home and started using again. That night, I lost him to an overdose. He was 19. One month after, I called that very same nonprofit and asked, “What can I do?” I wanted to do whatever I could to help bring hope to the parents who were going through our struggle.
Five years later, our group has made a lot of progress in our community. We opened the first transitional living center for youth in New Mexico. There’s a house on the property that is named after my son, which I’m very proud of. We’ve done a lot to bring attention to the stigma and shame associated with this addiction. We’ve done a lot of work on the local level — but we’re so ready for a change on the national level. We want to break down the stigma and shame associated with this addiction and help people realize that this is an epidemic that affects so many families.
Dorothy and H. Fredrick Shumake
Middletown, Ohio
Dorothy:
My husband and I lost our youngest daughter Allison to a heroin overdose when she was just 18. It’s been almost 13 months, and I still can’t find the words to describe my anguish. What people don’t realize is that losing a child devastates a whole circle of people, not just me. I’m devastated in a way that will never be fixed. But there’s also a greater circle of friends and family who were impacted by this loss. And we’re losing 78 people per day to opioid abuse. So you can imagine those circles getting bigger and bigger and you realize that, as a society, we cannot let this epidemic continue.
The most important thing I can do is to confront the stigma. I know it’s hard for some people to understand, but the truth is that opioid use disorder is a disease — not some moral failing. Like others who suffer from addiction, Ally’s brain was wired in a way where even when she stopped taking drugs, her body would start screaming for it. The people who are affected by this disease are as good or as bad as anyone else. I’m lucky — I’ve had knee surgeries and I did not become addicted to the many painkillers that were prescribed to me — but a lot of people do become addicted. In our small town last week, we had two people die from heroin addiction: one of them was 66 and the other was 49. It’s not just kids. So I’m going to keep speaking out about this epidemic and make sure people understand that so we can treat it like the disease it is.
What we can all do to help is support President Obama’s budget request of $1.1 billion. It would provide the desperately needed increase of treatment facilities that would use evidence-based practices, and would include mental health treatment and medication assisted treatment. We can save lives and have healthier communities.
Ally was the light of my life. I’ll do whatever I can to help keep another family’s light on.
Learn more about President Obama’s proposal to invest $1.1 billion to help address the prescription opioid and heroin abuse epidemic.
