Marlborough recognizes International Overdose Awareness Day

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Marlborough recognizes International Overdose Awareness Day
A community member holds a candle out the window of their car during the vigil. (Photo/Stuart Foster)

MARLBOROUGH – Candles illuminated the hill in front of the Walker Building as community members gathered Aug. 31 to commemorate International Overdose Awareness Day.

During the vigil, speakers discussed the grief of losing loved ones to overdose and the hope of recovery from substance abuse disorder.

The guest speakers were former Patriot Chris Sullivan and his wife, Kathi.

Kathi described the loss of her daughter, Taylor, who drowned in two feet of water after she attended a homecoming game and underage parties. 

“We just don’t know the journey that we’re going to go on, but we have to know that when we’re placed in that journey, you have to move forward,” Kathi said. 

Kathi and Chris met at a parent’s night months after her daughter’s death, where he had been brought by his sponsor to see the impact of alcohol on families.

Chris described how he gave up his career in football. He said he is extremely lucky to have found recovery and showed his sobriety chip to the audience. 

“This means a lot more to me than this Super Bowl ring,” Chris said. “I’d give away the ring tomorrow, honest to God.”

Kathy Leonard has been organizing vigils since 2015 following the death of her son Jonathan Testa.

Purple flags covered the hill – each representing a death from overdose in Massachusetts from the past year. 

“When we first started this, I had such hope that each year we’d be putting fewer and fewer flags, and that’s not the direction it’s going in,” Leonard said. 

Trahan: “Stigma gets in the way”

At the Marlborough Hills Rehabilitation and Health Care Center earlier in the day, U.S. Representative Lori Trahan (MA-03) said conversations about substance abuse disorder often do not happen when they should.

“This has been an issue that has confronted our loved ones, our communities,” Trahan said. “I think sometimes – well not sometimes – all of the time, stigma gets in the way.”

Brian Russell, a resident support specialist, is approaching 32 months of sobriety after periods of his life where he could not stay sober for 32 minutes. There were times his father refused to speak with him because of his substance abuse. Now, Russell said he is his best friend.

“Today I live a life above and beyond the life I ever thought I could,” Russell said. 

Speaking to the Community Advocate, Trahan said that the event was inspirational both to attendees on their own recovery journeys and for people like her who want to know where resources should be directed. 

“Anytime that you can hear the story of someone who has gone through the journey with all of its setbacks but emerged with a new sense of worth and belonging, I think it’s powerful,” Trahan said. 

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