Local mothers organize rally against opioid addiction
NEWARK – Karey Dyer looks down at the red bracelet on her wrist. It reads, “The Addicts Mom.”
Dyer’s heart has been torn apart by addiction. Six months ago, Dyer had to come face to face with a cold, hard and ugly truth: Her 23-year-old daughter was suffering from an opioid addiction.
Since then, her life has been turned upside down. Dyer now has legal custody of her 2-year-old granddaughter, hosts Nar-Anon meetings in Fairfield Beach and, of course, has added the red bracelet to her everyday apparel.
But the bracelet is there to remind her not of what she has lost, but of what she is fighting for.
“I see people looking at the bracelet often, and it’s not always comfortable. But I will open myself up to their judgment and their criticism if it opens up their heart to what is going on in our community and help us find a way to stop it,” Dyer said. “I wear this bracelet with pride, but there is also a lot of humility and suffering behind it.”
Something Dyer learned very quickly after her introduction into the world of addiction is that she is not alone. She found understanding and compassion from a group of women who have all had children fall prey to opiates, and now they are teaming up to fight back against opioid abuse.
In recognition of International Overdose Awareness Day, Dryer and her friends will host a Fed Up! rally Aug. 31 on the courthouse square in downtown Newark. The Fed Up! Coalition was formed in 2012 and seeks action from the federal government to bring to an end what it deems a public health crisis.
The rally will be from 1 to 4 p.m. and include speeches from survivors and possible emergency personnel who have responded to overdoses. An open mic session also will be available to allow people to share their stories, whether they are a former or current addict or a family member of someone with addiction.
Colleen Richards will be there to share her story. Her daughter, 25-year-old Mykel Hunter, of Newark, has been addicted to opioids for most of her life.
When she was just 10 years old, doctors prescribed Hunter with an opioid to combat the pain she was feeling after having surgery to remove kidney stones. But the pain continued, and she continued to have problems with her kidney.
More pills were prescribed, and by 15, Hunter was addicted. Richards had no idea her daughter could become addicted to the medication, and when the doctors discovered what was going on, they “threw their hands in the air and said they weren’t going to feed her addiction,” she said.
Over the next 10 years Richards would watch as her daughter’s life spiraled out of control.
Richards remembers that, one night, when Hunter called her, she had been on the run and hit a wall. She cried for her mother to help her, leaving Richards with a tough decision to make.
“I had to tell myself either I was going to go to Cedar Hill and buy her a plot or I was going to pick her up and hand her over to her probation officer, even though that meant she was going to prison,” Richards said. “Sometimes, I don’t know how she is alive today after what she has put herself through.
Hunter has been sent to prison three times. She lost custody of her son when he was 2 years old. She has hustled nearly every doctor and hospital in the Columbus area for prescription pills. On several occasions, her friends have simply abandoned her on the curb in front of the hospital on the verge of overdose, Richards said.
Trish Perry, of Newark, and Lori Burkhart, of Granville, have similar stories. It hasn’t been an easy life, Perry said, but helping to organize the rally has given them hope, hope that, one day, their children will get better and that no more lives will be claimed by opioid addiction.
“My son is addicted to heroin, and it is a terrible life,” Perry said. “That generation is going to be gone if something doesn’t change.”
emaddern@newarkadvocate.com
740-328-8513
Twitter: @emmaddern
Help Fight Opioid Addiction
• What: Fed Up! Rally
• When: 1 to 4 p.m. Aug. 31
Where: Courthouse Square
FYI: Karey Dyer, 740-974-2232 or kadyer189@hotmail.com; Colleen Richards, colleendon@icloud.com or 740-973-5978; Patricia Perry, t-pf@hotmail.com.