'The bravest person I knew': Families share stories of grief & hope on Overdose Awareness Day

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Several events were held throughout the Milwaukee area Thursday, Aug. 31, to commemorate International Overdose Awareness Day.

Lanterns were released Thursday evening in Mitchell Park to honor people who have died from drug overdoses.

Some of the families at the event have buried loved ones, some have not. But all of them know the pain and devastation caused by addiction.

They graciously shared their stories with us to try and help other families just like theirs.

Debbie Merritt-Dillman told us, "So many families feel like I do, with an empty chair at every occasion."

Merritt-Dillman has two sets of dates on the shirt she wears in honor of her son, Ben. The front marks the start and end of his life. The back shows the 12 years he sought treatment for an opiate addiction.

Merritt-Dillman said, "He sought help for over a decade. He was in treatment over 14 times. Which I think just suggests the power over the brain of this disease."

Ben's opiate addiction started with a prescription for pain medication, but Debbie said he sought out every opportunity for recovery.

"Nobody wakes up one day and says, 'I'd like to ruin my relationships and my life with a horrible addiction,'" she said.

She said Ben's main goal after fighting off the disease was to be a peer counselor, because he could understand what people were going through.

But Ben Merritt died in 2017 while in treatment. He was 31.

Debbie said the grief is something you learn to alongside of, but it never goes away.

She and her husband were among many people at an overdose awareness event Thursday.

Rafael Mercado, a member of the community group Team HAVOC, told the crowd, "It's about us informing the community to end the stigma."

The event shared critical resources, lifesaving Narcan, and fentanyl test strips.

Pastor Marty Calderon, of Promise Keepers Team Unity, told us, "We're not here to judge them, we're not here to talk about them, but we're here for them."

There was a bounce house, school supplies, and free haircuts.

The event was intentionally upbeat, a celebration of life. But in the middle of the pavilion was an ever-present and sobering reminder of what's at stake: every ribbon on the memorial tree bears the name of a loved one lost to an overdose.

Debbie said of Ben, "I told him so many times, and I've said it so many times since, he was the bravest person I knew." She added a ribbon to the tree.

But Cindy Schwartz has not. She's a member of Nar-Anon, a support group for family members of people living with addiction. She told us, "It's an illness that needs life-saving treatment, like cancer."

Schwartz's loved one has been in recovery for four years. She told us, "I'm proud of him. I'm proud of where he's come from and what he's doing now."

But she's also experienced the damage done. "It tears your heart out. Because they don't want to be what they are."

Addiction ravages the families, too, which is why Cindy joined the support group. "We have to go through our own recovery of the devastation the addiction of our loved one does to our lives. Going to a Nar-Anon meeting is my $1 a week therapy," she said.

Community groups are urging people to come out of the shadows and ask for help if they need it, for themselves and for their loved ones.

Schwartz said, "Every day is a blessing because you don't know what can be the trigger that takes them back down again."