When death strikes, it always leaves marks of discomfort. Often for families.
This time, death left its mark of discomfort in the River Valley. A kid with a big heart and an all set smile combated an addiction that was frustrating and that is all too commonplace in this valley, in this state, in this country.
Zach fought his dependency. His family prayed with and supported him as he combated to break the dependency. Death's strike was excessive, Zach lost, and an Arkansas community was entrusted the marks of discomfort..
I had the chance to learn about Zach's life and pay my respects at his funeral service. I wished to share his story on International Overdose Awareness Day in hopes that it would be a balm to the pain the far a lot of feel.
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Zach was close to his granny. She had actually passed away in the last month and Zach took it hard. Still, he 'd been tidy for a month. He had a promising job interview set for that next morning, and tickets for the Jellyroll concert in the next couple of weeks. Remaining clean, trying to turn his life around, was a battle that plagued his every minute.
When Zach returned home that night and was alone in the bathroom, his addiction made its move and Zach lit a glass pipeline. It was Daniel, Zach's best buddy, who found him alone, in the dark, dead on the bathroom flooring.
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The Arkansas Department of Health keeps an eye on non-fatal and deadly overdoses. For the public, if you go to those websites, you'll find that there is not a complete accounting of non-fatal and deadly overdoses. Nearly half the counties in the state are not sharing those numbers. Understanding the complete extent of the problem is critical if we want to fix the problem. What we do not know, we can not fight..
We can stop stigmatizing and lessening the lives of drug users. We can re-humanize those who have a hard time with addiction. And we can make dependency treatment commonly readily available for those seeking aid.
People use drugs. If you are someone who utilizes drugs, please attempt not to do it alone.
There is also an assistance hotline, Never Use Alone, that you can call. We do not have to be alone.
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Zach was a drug user, an addict. It's easy to write his life off because of this reality alone. On International Overdose Awareness Day, there's one more story about this 22-year-old young boy and his finest good friend Daniel that you ought to know.
On April Fool's Day 2014, they had a four-wheeler mishap that altered everything. The accident left two little kids laying on the ground, one little body torn open, with muscle, tendons and blood all over. In that moment, I saw the outright love he had for my little boy.
Zach lost and combated a personal fight. Zach had an overdose in Arkansas.
The fight Zach lost was death's strike leaving marks of discomfort in the River Valley. Let's act now before death's strike leaves its marks of discomfort on yet another community and yet another household.
Chris Jones is a minister, physicist and previous candidate for Arkansas guv.
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