Charlotte

 

I lost my beautiful son, Casey, to a heroin overdose on August 19th, 2002.  He was 23 years old.  Casey did not begin his drug use with heroin but those initial drugs set up a progression that led to his disease of addiction. I was uninformed and misinformed, a deadly combination. The best information that I received from lay and professionals alike was a mantra of myths, he has to “want to, lose enough and hit bottom”.  What I know now is that no one “wants to” be addicted. Losing enough? How much is enough? Is your life enough? People hit multiple bottoms and continue to use despite catastrophic consequences and “hitting bottom” can be death. While we waited for all of those things to happen, Casey died in the process. We desperately wanted  to donate his organs so that Casey could live on in others but were told that was not possible because he was an IV drug user.  However, because of Casey’s life and death, there are people living in recovery now, in part, because of an involuntary treatment act named in his honor, “Casey’s Law”.  Thank you, Casey, for being our son and allowing us to be the bearer of your light so that others may receive the help they need and find their path to recovery. We love you and miss you everyday.

This was our first tragic overdose but not our last.

We also lost our sweet grandson, PJ, on March 5th this year at the age of 26.  He will be loved and missed forever.  We had so much hope that it would be different for PJ but he too lost the battle. While we have come a long way since 2002, there is still much to learn about the disease of addiction and how to treat this chronic, progressive, potentially fatal illness.