Mother Tries To Educate People About Dangers Of Opioids After Her Two Teenage Sons Died From Overdose On Same Day

An Indiana mother, who lost her two teenage sons on the same day because of a drug overdose, is now trying to educate other mothers about the dangers of drugs in order for them to avoid the heartbreak of losing a child.

Rebecca Savage lost her two sons, Jack and Nick, both died in 2015, after taking oxycodone at Jack’s graduation party.

She said she was picking up dirty clothes from Jack’s room — her 18-year-old son Sunday morning where he was sleeping in after a night of graduation parties with Nick and other friends. However, Jack didn’t respond as she picked up his laundry. She shook him, but he was reportedly dead.

Rebecca is a nurse so when she checked his pulse, she immediately shouted for help and started CPR.

She was still in shocked when she heard other responders rushing into her basement. A second 911 call had been made from her house at the same time — this one by friends of 19-year-old Nick.

Rebecca lost two of her four sons that day. It transpired both Jack and Nick had tried oxycodone at a party the night before and both of them overdosed.

She describes Jack as adventurous, charming and friendly. Adding, he had played hockey since he was three years old and he enjoyed doing water sports at the family’s lake home while Nick was more quiet and reserved.

“Once you got to know him, he was just really calm,” Rebecca said.

Jack was headed to Indiana’s Ball State University for his freshman year in the fall. While Nick is freshman year at Indiana State University, where he was studying microbiology and chemistry.

The boys were two of the 772 teenagers aged 15 to 19 in the US who died of drug overdoses in 2015.
CDC data that came out on Tuesday revealed that this was the first year since 2007 that the teen drug overdose death rate spiked as the nation struggles to control a burgeoning epidemic of opioid addiction and overdoses.

After Jack and Nick’s death, Rebecca became more protective of her two younger kids, Justin, 18, and Matthew, 13.

Rebecca now spends her time trying to educate parents and teenagers about the dangers of drugs.

Article Sources: WWWN, STAT News, WWWN/Facebook Photo Credit: WNDU