Gone too soon: Lake Zurich man dies of heroin overdose on 30th birthday
The struggle began years ago, when Robert "Bobby" Warren Hines Jr. was introduced to pain pills while in high school.
It ended Tuesday - his 30th birthday - when Hines died of a heroin overdose during a visit to his family home in Lake Zurich. He should have been on his way back to Florida but delayed the departure because of a stomach bug. He was alone when he died.
"He was fun. He was funny. He had a huge heart. He was compassionate, very resourceful and intelligent," his mother, Michelle, said Saturday.
He loved family and was a great friend, wild at heart and fun to be with yet sensitive to those in need, according to his obituary. But he is gone too soon, his family says, succumbing to the power of drugs that haunted him.
Since last year, Bobby Hines lived in Florida and was successful as a senior loss consultant representing people who had sustained property losses, she said.
Despite rehab, medically assisted programs and periods of recovery - even an appearance on an MTV show about addiction - the struggle persisted.
"He was finding a lot of success with his business (but) this was a monkey on his back, a demon on his shoulder," said Michelle, who is active in Live4Lali and Hearts of Hope, which educate and offer support for substance users, their families and others.
Michelle has been speaking out on the facts and myths of heroin/opioid use for about 10 years. She has hosted forums and built a coalition in Lake Zurich.
Bobby, she said during a round-table discussion in 2012, was raised in a loving household with a full support system. But he watched several of his friends, including his 18-year-old girlfriend, die from overdoses.
"These are good kids coming from good families in good communities," she said at the time. "No one is immune."
The opioid problem continues to grow, and Hines said she will be redoubling her efforts. In an attempt to save lives, the family will be making the overdose-reversing drug naloxone and training to administer it available Tuesday at her son's funeral service. It also will be available at Live4Lali's community resource center in Arlington Heights.
"I believe my son would want me to save lives," Michelle Hines said. "Now that he's passed, I know he would want me to go full steam ahead."
Bobby's younger brother saved him about three years ago by administering naloxone. But that was not to be last Tuesday, as Bobby was home alone.
Hines said it's painful to speak publicly about Bobby, but she feels her words hold more power and weight so soon after his passing.
"This is ripping my heart out to do this," she said. "I want it to stop but I want people to know about the good Samaritan law."
The 911 Good Samaritan law offers protection from prosecution for low-level drug offenses for anyone having an overdose and the person who calls for medical attention.
"The good Samaritan law is something people don't understand enough," according to Michelle Hines.
Family friend Laura Fry, director of patient and family service at Live4Lali, started a GoFundMe page to help with expenses.
"Bobby was loving, charismatic, funny, a hard worker, an amazing son, a protective older brother, a friend to all who met him," she wrote.
He'll be missed, she added, but the fight against the opioid epidemic will continue in the names of Hines and all the others who have been lost.
Visitation is from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday with a memorial service at 6 p.m. at Willow Creek Community Church, Algonquin and Barrington roads, South Barrington.