The National Addiction Memorial honors the loved ones we’ve lost.

On October 21, 1987 I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and I named her Christina Maria. Christina was raised in a loving Italian home. She attended Saint Vincent DePaul School and obtained First Honors throughout her years at St. Vincent’s.

In 2001, Christina went to Holy Family Academy, and continued to maintain a 4.0 throughout her four years at Holy Family. She was the president of the Student Council and graduated in 2005. She participated in many sports throughout her grammar and high school years.

In 2005, Christina attended Pace University in New York City and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2009 with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology. She loved helping people and would address their needs before she addressed her own. After graduation from college, Christina was a certified Teacher's Aid and she worked at a school with severely disabled children who were in wheelchairs, couldn't speak, walk, or talk. She loved the children and the teachers loved her too. She was an advocate for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital as three of the children from the school were sent to the hospital. She took pride in her work and always went out of her way to assist in whichever way she could. She had an infectious smile that lit the world.

In assisting a child and preventing the child from falling, Christina fell and broke her ankle. She was prescribed opioids and from taking pain medicine, this led to using heroin. From this horrific disease of addiction, on March 8, 2016, Christina’s life, my only child, was taken from an accidental overdose to heroin. She was 28 years old.

Jen was a wonderful person. She was funny, caring, loving. I miss her every day. She was a sister to me. There were so many fun things we did together.

He always had a great love for all. Especially those in need of friendship. He would always invite all who had no where to go on a holiday to come over and celebrate with us. He had the biggest heart and soul. I always prayed he would see and feel what a beautiful person he was. Just being himself was a gift to all who knew him 🙏❤️ I miss and love him so much 🙏❤️

Alyssa was so lovely, had such a kind and gentle way, had so many god gifted talents, and was loved by so many wonderful people.  She will forever be in our hearts.  In her honor and memory, we support this organization to help others the best we can.   

I had Valerie when I was 19 years old. Her Dad sadly was an alcoholic and our relationship didn’t last long. Valerie was such a smart little girl. I did the best I could, going to school to get myself a degree so I could provide for her. She grew up and had lots of friends. I remarried and Val had two more sisters that she loved. Sadly right after graduating from high school, she met a boy who introduced her to heroin. I found out about it months after and sent her to rehab where I thought she kicked it. She keep it a secret that she was on methadone. I was clueless back then about heroin use. She also started drinking after she moved in with her Dad. She met another guy and I didn’t know at the time was out of rehab for heroin use. They both lived at her Dad’s house and she had her first child, a beautiful little boy. She wasn’t on anything then since nothing showed up when he was born but who knows now. She seemed happy and her little family moved into their own place where a couple of years later she had a baby girl. The Dad of the kids relapsed right after the babies birth and she moved in with me and the two kids. She signed up for school and was ready to graduate. Her Dad invited her over to his house, which I didn’t know at the time. She lied and said she was going to her friends house. I got a call the next day from her Dad and the Fire Department saying she died. I don’t know what happened that day to make her relapse. Her Dad erased her phone. I am raising her two beautiful kids and doing my best with my two other children.

Dale had been struggling with heroin addiction after being prescribed opioids which were given to him as a teenager. He had been sober for several months, and had purchased what he believed to be DMT to give to his brother to make up for stealing from him. The morning of May 6th I awoke to my youngest son Daniel concussion breathing. 911 had to be called, CPR started, and my son Dale took over until paramedics arrived. Three doses of narcan - the white biggie was on my kitchen table next to my keys and I pointed it out to law enforcement as I left the apartment with Dale and police still in the unit. A short observation at the hospital and we returned to inform Dale that the suspected DMT was most likely laced with fentanyl. A short time later, Dale decided he was going to go take a shower. 20 minutes later I had my younger son Daniel kick in the bathroom door and my son deal had Clips in the shower and was under water. The package of drugs that I appointed to the police officer was in the bathroom with him. Paramedics worked on him for 20 minutes at the house and my lovely son was pronounced dead on May 7th. He became a seven organ 6 recipient donor on May 10th. We later found out that the packet that we thought was DMT laced with fentanyl ended up being 100% fentanyl. My son Dale never had a chance. On August 21st I met with the city manager and chief of police for Burien. It was at that time I was informed that the city and Burien police have a policy of not to investigate any overdoses, and in doing so, leave any drugs or paraphernalia at the scene.
Gross negligence

Alex was very smart. He liked to feel comfortable and secure. Alex started smoking pot and drinking before he was 16. I didn’t know about this until he got in trouble at school. He went to counseling and stayed clean till graduation. They random drug tested. After graduation, he went off to Western Carolina, where he knew no one. I think that was a big mistake on our part. But we didn’t know that he was going to end up using Xanax to feel comfortable in his own skin.

He flunked out of Western and returned home and lived with his Dad. He got a full time job at Walmart. He and his Dad had issues, so he came to live with me and my husband. The first of March, 2017, I found him passed out in his room. We decided to send him to 30 days of treatment. Two months later he was dead. A mixture of Xanax and a small amount of fentanyl. The fentanyl is what killed him. My life has been a day to day struggle. I miss him terribly. The loss is like someone took a hard ball and pierced it through my heart. It is the worst thing in the world to lose your child. Janice

Colin loved sports from the time he was younger. He was the most loving, caring person ever. He made everyone around him feel happy and comfortable. Colin actively played softball and had a dream of playing in the major leagues one day. Sadly, Colin was sober and used one night, which took his life because of a bad batch. He will be missed forever by everyone whose life he touched.

Jacob was an intelligent, kind-hearted, and loving person. He loved his little sister and little brother. Jacob taught his sister how to play basketball, a sport they both loved. He didn't have time to teach his brother the same skills but showered him with love any chance he got. A bright soul that lost his way in the world. So many people loved him. We all wish for another day. Another hour. Five minutes to attempt to say all that was neglected to be said. We will miss you for a lifetime and love you for eternity.

We lost our loving father, husband, son, brother, uncle, and friend August 19, 2016. The world feels so empty without his wit, charm, smile, and one liners. A piece of each of us has been missing since he left the world that Friday evening at 8:19 PM.

Mark Smith was the most generous man you could meet. He would give the last $20 to his name or shirt off his back to help a family member or friend. His hugs would take away any worry you had in the world. He loved to make people laugh. And his smile would light up a room. My dad was a person you would meet and would never forget. They say time heals, but all it does is make us miss him more. As he would always say to my mom, sister, and I, “You will always be in my heart”.

Our family would like to join the others out there that are dealing with the heartache that we face every day. The disease of addiction does not discriminate, it could happen to any of us. Let’s fight for better treatment and bring this disease to light. Let’s break the stigma and change the conversation about addiction.

My brother made everyone around him smile. When he loved, he loved with all his heart. He was definitely a lover, not a fighter. His daughters were his world. Even though he struggled, he was an amazing father who was always playing legos with his girls or with his nephews. He was an amazing uncle also. When he was locked up, so many people said Eugene made jail/prison bearable because he made the best of everything. He was a hard worker, and he was a member of the millwright union along with my dad He loved to spend the summer out at the lake swimming and just spending time with friends and family. He took a piece of all of us to heaven with him that day, and our family will never be the same. He is the reason I am in recovery today. My angel.

My sweet Melissa was gifted... She learned to play the keyboard by ear and her voice was so sweet to hear as she sang. She loved numbers. Graduated as an accountant. Loved crafts and drawing, and playing board games and card games, and she was very competitive. She was not her addiction; she was and still is my beautiful sweet second born whom I love❣

Our beloved Dawn unexpectedly passed away on March 2, 2018, at the age of 43. She was as beautiful on the inside, as she was out. She had a caring heart, and would light up the room with her amazing smile. She had a long struggle with alcoholism and on that day, while it was accidental, she lost the battle. She was a larger than life force, who lives within us all, and her presence will forever be with us.

Matt was an amazing person, always making people laugh. He loved cooking and playing games. He also loved heroin. I'd never met someone so loving in all my life. He was smart and knew a lot about the universe. He died four days before our wedding. He told me he wanted to be a grandpa so he could tell his grandkids to stop playing in the grass. I miss him so much and not a day goes by I don't think of him.

Travis battled years of addiction, depression, and anxiety. We did everything possible to help him fight his demons. Travis moved to North Carolina to be closer to our older son a few years ago. He was doing well, had a job, girlfriends, and heart of gold.
Then came the dreaded call last September. We are heartbroken as we miss him every day. He will always be in our hearts.
forever25travis

We lost our dear grandchild, Alexis Shapiro, to an overdose on August 11, 2018. She was 20 years young. She suffered with this terrible disease for many years and was in residential treatment centers three times. She also went to day care centers several times as follow ups to her residential treatments. She was clean for four weeks and set to go into an halfway house the day after she overdosed.
She started college but could not get past the first year. The insecurities she felt lead her to lean on opioids and drugs. Unfortunately, in the last few years she never felt adequate, happy, or secure unless she was on drugs.
Our family goal is to prevent even one family from going through this devastating event. We are united with SHATTERPROOF to reach this lofty goal.

My son was a beautiful baby, and he was my first born, my first true love. I miss him beyond words. I feel like part of who I am now is a grieving mother. It has been five years since he died and I was told that time cures everything. Well, if you have lost a child for any reason, you know that the one thing that time does not cure is the lose of a child. I parented Sheldon till he was 3 and then gave him to his paternal grandparents to take care of.This was to be temporary. I was a young mother. I was struggling with addiction and needed to go get clean. So I headed off to My home town without my son. I stayed sober for going on 26 years now. Sheldon grew up with his grandparents. Unfortunately, by the time I was ready to be a parent to him he had already made a life in California with his grandparents.
At 12 years old, Sheldon was showing signs of genius level computer skills. He enrolled in the local community college to take computer programming classes to make games on the computer. Sheldon was so loving, and smart. He was also very creative. He loved writing music, singing,magic. He was a boy Scout and a black belt in taekwando. Anything he tried he would become the best he could. I was not parenting Sheldon but I was seeing Sheldon about 3 to 4 times a year. The first few months back home I found out I was pregnant with a little girl. This gave sheldon a sister whom he adored. At 12, Sheldon convinced his grandparents to let him have a cosmetic surgery that would make him feel better about being overweight.This was the beginning of the addiction to opiates for Sheldon.I knew that myself being a recovering addict and sheldons dad being an addict definitely predispositioned genetically for my son and daughter to be addicts. I really did not understand what that meant. I do now.
Sheldon was also diagnosed with A.D.D. , when he was in 3rd grade. He figured out that he could trade one prescription for another. I Jump ahead about five years and my beautiful son,my first true love had acquired a love for drawing, a love for people, a love for writing and making music. He had a big secret though. He was now completly addicted to opiates and now was smoking pot and drinking.Sheldon was starting to lose himself to his addiction. As a mother living far away it was hard for me to keep him talking and communicating with me. He was a teenager and He was all about his friends, who did not know his secret. I would talk to my son about once a week and try to dig and pry about his life. He would tell me not to worry that hes walking the line being a good person. I worried so much. The last time I saw Sheldon was when he was 17 and he came to visit me and his sister for a week. I will never forget that week I had with him. I knew he was using something but I did not want to bring it up or upset him and possibly ruin his visit. My heart aches that I did not reach out to him. The next few years my son and I would talk but he became less and less engaged. His grandparents told me his grades were slipping and he was busted stealing money from them. Although when I talked to my son he never mentioned any of the problems he was having.Finally when he had dropped out of school lost all respect and trust he had from his grandparents, finally then I asked him what he was using. He was so mad at me. But I kept on. I would tell him that I love him but i don't like the addiction. I would try to seperate his behaviour from who he really was.He did tell me that he was angry with me for leaving him when he was three. He asked me how could I do that. I told him because I love him. I knew if I stayed in California that I would not ne any good for him. He was angry and nothing I said was going to make it right. I tried to reach out but he was shutting himself down. Me living in Colorado and Sheldon living in California the distance started to grow. At 21, Sheldon had moved from taking pills to shooting up heroin. This is how I lost my son my first true love. I will never forget that phone call. The phone call that would forever change my life. The phone call that completly left my heart space with sadness and turmoil and the deepest kind of hurt that I would want no one to feel. The phone call was sheldons grandmother telling me that my son had died during the night. That they found him in his room with a syringe sticking out of his arm. I vomited and then laid in the grass on my back. I had thrown my phone. As I laid there numb watching the clouds for about 5 minutes her voice echoing through my mind it took a minute for what she said to really hit my mind. When it did I started crying and I did not really stop for a year.
The night of June 25, 2013 my son gave himself his last dose and fell asleep and he never woke up. My beautiful, smart, amazing love, my son was gone. The guilt was overwhelming. I still struggle at times. But the sun rises every day and sets every night. I remember the first few days after I found out, I went to a mental hospital. One of the counselors asked me how I was feeling and I said I feel like someone chopped off one of my limbs. The counselor said without hesitation, "Even amputees learn to walk again. They never walk the same but they walk again." I am still sad. I wonder all the time what my beautiful boy was thinking in his last hour. I wonder what life would have been like for him if I would have demanded that he come live with me. I wonder if he ever forgave me. I wonder if he is in a better place. I hope that he knows how much I adore him. How I never judged him. I only ever wanted him to be happy. I hope wherever he is that he is at peace. Hug your children talk to your children even if it rocks the boat. Confront your children and teach your children.

When I met Justin he was 17 years old, and within minutes I knew we were meant to be together. He was so protective, loving, caring, and supportive. No matter what my dreams ever were, he supported me. Within time we had our own beautiful little family of two girls and one boy. Justin was an amazing, caring, hilarious father, who no matter what it took, ensured his children were safe, happy, loved, and cared for. No matter what the situation, Justin took care of anyone he could, regardless of how it could or would negatively affect him. We miss Justin every minute of every day; no matter how bad it got, or how rough our road was we were always there for each other. He was my rock, his children's rock, and many others. He stood behind to catch them when they fell. Justin will always be remembered every day for the amazing, loving, caring, supportive, and comical man he was.