Woman lost 2 sons in one night to opioids

Summary and Analysis…

This article describes the mission of a mother, Becky Savage, who lost two sons on a single day to accidental overdoses of prescription opioids combined with alcohol. Her story highlights the need for a broad response to the opioid crisis including education and prevention.

After just three community pill drop-off events organized by Ms. Savage, more than 1,500 pounds of unused pills have been turned in. This is both an indicator of the extent of the over-prescribing problem and a call to action for communities to take actions to reduce opportunities for abuse.

Excerpted from CNN

“Everything just kind of seemed like a blur that day,” Becky Savage said. “Your mind is not really meant to process something that extreme.”

The day Savage is describing is June 14, 2015.

Her two oldest sons, Nick and Jack, were celebrating at high school graduation parties the night before. The boys came home about 12:30 a.m. and checked in with their mom, who had been waiting up.

The next morning, as Savage was picking up laundry in Jack’s room, she noticed that he wasn’t stirring as she tried to wake him.

“He was unresponsive. I called 911, and I remember hollering for Nick, for him to come up, and how he never came.”