Campbell County Mom Remembers Son on International Overdose Awareness Day

KNOXVILLE (WATE) - Lisa Murphy likes to remember her son as the smiling father holding his baby girl.

He has a daughter who's now 4 and she will probably not even remember him as she gets older," says Murphy. "She sees pictures, she goes with me to the cemetery but at her age, she really doesn't understand that that's her dad and that he's gone."

Murphy says her son died of a drug overdose last year after his friend provided him drugs. He was 30.

"He thought they were heroin," said Murphy. "They were all fentanyl. When he took those drugs, instead of her taking him to the hospital, she didn't want to get in trouble, so, she drug him out of her car and threw him in a ditch and left him there to die."

Friday Murphy joined thousands of others all over the world to raise awareness of overdose.

Nancy Daniels organized the event in Knoxville. She says she wants to get rid of the stigma that surrounds addicts, recovering addicts, and their families, especially when it comes to the use of Naloxone.

"There is a young woman here who has overdosed 19 times," said Daniels. "I met her in recovery court. She looks just like you and if you ask her mother or dad, did you want to stop at two, you know what they would say."

Caitlin Murphy is Lisa Murphy's daughter. She says her brother's death has helped her realize how devastating and dangerous drugs are and encourages others to stay away from them.

"I would just say, if you had to watch your mom cry herself to sleep every night, you probably wouldn't want to be around it either," said Cailtin.

https://www.wate.com/news/local-news/campbell-county-mom-remembers-son-on-international-overdose-awareness-day/1410555252