Lessons from Alcohol Awareness Month

An all-too-real obituary has been making the rounds lately on the news and social media sites. Recently, a father in New Hampshire sidestepped traditional obituaries when creating one for his daughter who had just died from heroin overdose. The difference is this family, mourning 24-year-old Molly Parks, provided an honest look into Molly’s struggles and the family’s pain. They did this not to be hurtful of malicious, but rather to inspire people losing the battle to addiction and their loved ones to strive to change the situation.

Molly’s struggle with addiction is all too familiar to the people that have been through it and the loved ones that have experienced it with them. Drug experimentation gave way to a crippling addiction that could not be kicked, which resulted in a near-fatal overdose previously and then finally a fatal one. Molly left school after the first year of community college and was bouncing around from job to job until landing a delivery job for a restaurant. She was found dead in that bathroom of that restaurant with her drugs.

Addiction is not anyone’s fault and losing a loved one, regardless of the circumstances, is so difficult, that in these times loved ones left behind will often brush the addiction and cause of death under the rug. If it’s not a secret, then it is still not discussed. However, Molly’s father’s outspoken and frank obituary does a lot more to serve the community.

Molly’s father wrote of his daughter’s personality and qualities with a lot of affection and also included some information on her struggle with >heroin addiction, finishing the obituary with this message: “If you have any loved one's who are fighting addiction, Molly's family asks that you do everything possible to be supportive, and guide them to rehabilitation before it is too late.”

For individuals and families still deciding on what to do regarding drug and alcohol addiction, the message has never been clearer that it is vital to get help immediately before it’s too late.

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