Real Stories
Ann Marie's Story
Ann Marie is a mother who lost her 22-year-old son, Chris, to a prescription opioid overdose.
Brenda's Story
Brenda shares her experiences with addiction to prescription opioids and the toll pain medication took on her life.
Devin's Story
Devin shares his Rx Awareness story of using prescription opioids after a minor surgery as a teenager and his path to recovery from opioid use disorder.
Judy's Story
Judy lost her son, Steve, to a prescription opioid overdose. Before he died, he wrote, “At first it was a lifeline, now it is a noose around my neck.”
Mike's Story
Mike became addicted to a prescription opioid and ended up leaving school and no longer playing college sports. At the time he “didn’t understand the dangers of the drug and was addicted after a matter of months.”
Noah's Story
Noah shares his experience losing his father to prescription opioid addiction. He states that he learned “it’s likely that everybody knows somebody who’s struggling with this very problem.”
Tamera's Story
Tamera shares her experience losing almost everything she had to prescription opioid addiction. She says that knowing it “could have been prevented” makes her experience seem so much worse. Tamera reminds us that it “only takes one.”
Teresa's Story
Teresa lost her brother RJ at age 32 to a prescription opioid overdose. He convinced people to “believe he knew exactly what he was taking.”
CDC's Opioid Overdose Website
Learn more about opioid misuse and overdose, data, and prevention resources at www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose.
- Page last reviewed: September 22, 2017
- Page last updated: September 22, 2017
- Content source:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
- National Center for Injury Prevention and Control,
- Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention