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A heroin overdose has always been my greatest fear since my oldest son started using at the age of 16 years old. Despite repeated attempts at rehab the heroin abuse stayed strong, and the drug constantly pulled my son back in. After losing his home, being fired from the job for being so high at work that he could not stay awake, and having to move his family including a wife and two children into my home I thought that we had the problem under control. Frequent drug screens, constant supervision, and not allowing my son to have any money at all seemed to be working. My now 26 year old child seemed to be on the road to recovery, and the fear of a heroin overdose was finally starting to lessen. After a decade of chaos and destruction I was hopeful once more that we were headed in the right direction.

With the fear of a heroin overdose starting to fade and many successful drug tests at home I started to trust a little once more, and successful rehab and recovery seemed possible again. When my son walked up to the party store a block away with his 19 year old brother I did not think twice. Later that afternoon my oldest was in the bathroom and we heard a loud thud, so his wife went to check on him and started screaming. My son was on the floor, not breathing and turning blue, and the needle was still in his arm. After calling 911 we put him in the shower, turned on the cold water, and started to smack him to bring him around. Luckily my son survived, but he will probably not be so lucky the next time he experiences a heroin overdose if rehab does not work again.