'Find your people': Families to share their stories for International Overdose Awareness Day
The stories of those who lose their lives battling substances abuse disorder do not end with their deaths.
It continues with those left behind: friends, parents, relatives and other loved ones.
Those survivor networks will share those stories Thursday at North School Park in Arlington Heights, in an event to mark International Overdose Awareness Day.
Sponsored by the Arlington Heights-based substance abuse advocacy group Live4Lali, the gathering will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the park, located at North Evergreen Avenue and East Eastman Street.
Jody Daitchman, co-founder of Live4Lali, said that although people who have lost family or friends will be among those attending — many with framed photos of loved ones lost — the event is open to the public.
“We welcome anybody to come, because people might get an education they really haven't been expecting,” said Daitchman, who lost her 20-year-old son, Alex Laliberte, to a heroin overdose in 2008.
The event will feature speakers and the reading of names of those who passed away. Naloxone training and Fentanyl test strips will be available.
“We want to make it about the family members, the relatives, the siblings of those that passed away. Those are the ones that have to pick the pieces and try to wake up every day and function,” Daitchman said. “So we're having people that have lost their friends, people that have lost their kids, people that have lost their siblings.”
Daitchman, who also leads a support group called Angel Moms, realizes how hard it can be to share one's experience.
“When my son died, the last thing I wanted to do was talk to someone,” she said. “This was 15 years ago, and who really talked about it? We were humiliated. We were embarrassed. And now I can't impress upon everybody enough to meet other people and find your connections, find your people.”
Daitchman's daughter and Alex Laliberte's sister, Live4Lali co-founder Chelsea Laliberte Barnes, said International Overdose Awareness Day is important to everyone.
“There is a big part of a lot of humanity that is in denial that it can happen to them,” she said.