Editorial: Events today may help families enduring pain of losing someone to overdose

Jennifer Flory, of Sugar Grove, and Bill Green, of Naperville, likely have never spoken with each other. But they share a deeply personal experience that deserves some attention today.

It is International Overdose Awareness Day, a campaign that, according to its website, aims "to end overdose, remember without stigma those who have died and acknowledge the grief of the family and friends left behind."

Events are scheduled throughout the suburbs today to advance that mission. No doubt hundreds of people who also share Flory's and Green's particular heartache will participate in one of them. We hope they'll find some comfort, and at the same time advance the fight to end a scourge that we've been following in the suburbs for two decades.

We told Green's story last Friday. Chuck Keeshan and Susan Sarkauskas wrote of his efforts that helped produce a law named for his son Alex that protects individuals from prosecution if they report someone experiencing an overdose. Alex died in 2018 after friends dropped him off at a convenience store rather than report to police that he could be suffering from a drug overdose.

Our Rick West told Flory's story on Monday. Her daughter Alison died of an overdose in 2016. Now, her mother encourages parents who have lost a child that way to avoid feelings of shame and to talk to others who know firsthand what they are going through.

They'll find, she says, that "it could literally happen to anybody," and while knowing that can't bring their loved one back, it at least can help ease some of the guilt and suffering.

Sometimes, it can lead to positive action to prevent others from having to endure it. In Flory's case, her daughter's story led to a state law that targets agencies that attempt to lure addicts away from other treatment with various inducements and then provide little or no real care. But even if such experiences don't lead to broad societal change, they can help survivors build some inner strength.

"We have people who have lost family members who come out, and it's a good chance for them to feel connected to other people who have lost somebody," Jim Brunetti, clinical director at the Ecker Center for Behavioral Health, told West.

The center is hosting an event at 7 p.m. at its Renz office in Elgin where Flory will be among those sharing their experiences. Similar events are planned at 5 p.m. in Waukegan, hosted by Live4Lali and Northern Illinois Recovery Community Organization, and at 6 p.m. in Naperville, hosted by the Path to Recovery Foundation, as well as other locations.

Jennifer Flory, Bill Green and scores of families who will attend meetings like these today - as well as the hundreds of families we've written about over the years who have lost loved ones to drug addiction - hardly need greater awareness of how real drug addiction can be for any family. But perhaps today's events will be an important part of their healing. And even more important, perhaps their stories can both help other families struggling with this particular pain of loss and even help some avoid having to endure it at all.