‘OUR TOMMY DIED OF AN OPIOID OVERDOSE. WE’RE FAILING THE NEXT GENERATION’

I wasn’t expecting it. That day, I was out with one of my grandkids when I received a call from an unknown number. At one point in time, I would have stopped everything to take that call. But I didn’t pick it up this time. Instead, I continued to enjoy my time with my grandchild.

That missed call turned out to be the police calling to notify me that Tommy was found dead in his bed at his recovery home.

Our Tommy died and there was nothing I could do to change it, no matter how much I wished I could. He died after using heroin that was laced with fentanyl. He passed away when he was 27 years old, on August 31, 2018. Sadly, and ironically, it was International Overdose Awareness Day.