August 31 was National Overdose Awareness Day and one local mom did her part to bring awareness to the dangers of drugs and overdosing. Christy Andrews knows too the heartache of addiction because she lost her son Dustin Robertson to a drug overdose last year. Dustin was only 32 years old.
“I know drugs are hard to talk about because almost everyone knows someone who is struggling with addiction,” Andrews said. “Drugs aren’t a pretty story at all because addiction ends one of two ways. You either beat it or it beats you.
“No one really wants to talk about addiction, but definitely no one wants to die from it. I know my son didn’t want to die from an overdose but he couldn’t escape the addiction. I promise you, no mother or father wants to ever bury their child but addiction does not care if you’re young or old, rich or poor, educated or not.”
Addiction affects over 165 million Americans ages 12 and up. This includes abusing drugs and/or alcohol and this number is growing every year.
Opioid overdoses continue to rise in Oklahoma, with most fatal overdoses resulting from Fentanyl. According to the Oklahoma State Department of Health, there are nearly 1,000 accidental overdose deaths related to opioids every year and 80 percent of these overdoses happen at home. So the Oklahoma State Department of Health is urging families to keep Naloxone, a fast-acting drug used to reverse opioid overdose and restore normal breathing, in their medicine cabinet. Having Naloxone on hand may be the difference between life and death. When stored correctly, Naloxone has a shelf life of three years and just like bandages, aspirin or an inhaler, it needs to quickly accessible in case of an emergency. Anyone can order Naloxone, also known as brand-name Narcan, from okimready.org.
“I hope families get Naloxone into their medicine cabinets to prevent a senseless overdose if possible. It’s been a very long year without my son and everyone deals with grief differently. I had to reach out for help to learn how to cope with my son’s loss but I refuse to let his death be in vain. If I can help even one person struggling, then it will be worth it all. I want people to know this could be your son, daughter, mother, father, husband, wife, aunt, uncle, cousin. We need to understand that these individuals are still God’s children who need our help.
“I’m proud to say my daughter, who had struggled with addiction, is now three years clean! And to those who are still struggling, I believe with help you can beat this addiction too!
“This is why my whole family had shirts made in loving memory of my son, to bring awareness to our community. I was so thrilled that my coworkers all surprised me at work by wearing awareness t-shirts also. As I passed out purple pins to bring overdose awareness to those in our community I felt like Dustin would’ve been proud.”
