Image Credit: Shutterstock

Moms who lost their children to opioid overdoses are going to be candid when they speak with South Okanagan teens who are coming of age in a world with a toxic drug supply.

One of the moms is Jessica Michalofsky, who lost her 25-year-old son Aubrey in August 2022. She’s running from Nelson to Victoria as part of the Run For Aubrey - Saving Lives One Step At A Time, and will be in Oliver on June 1. That’s when she’ll be addressing the students at South Okanagan Secondary School in Oliver.

Michalofsky is an advocate of a safe supply.

“I would rather have him alive and using drugs, with the potential of improving his life, than death. Because now there’s never any potential,” she told INFOnews in March.

Joining Michalofsky in Oliver will be local mom Jill McCullum, whose 27-year-old son Cpl. Nick Stevens died in March 2017 of an overdose. He struggled with PTSD after completing a tour in Afghanistan.

McCullum doesn’t think she’ll be able to scare anybody straight or convince teenagers to practice abstinence. Her message is for those adolescents who are inevitably going to experiment – she wants to make sure they know how to access life-saving resources like naloxone and drug testing. She wants anybody struggling to know that they're still full of potential, they'll always be worthy of respect, and their loved ones would miss them profoundly when they're gone. So for those anybody who ends up in medical distress because of addiction challenges, she wants them to know how to access life-saving tools so that they don't become another notch on the overdose tally.

"We're not religious or political, we're just there as mothers that have lost a child and really think these kids deserve to have some fact in their toolbox," she said.

"The message is a  truth filled reality check for those who may still experiment."

McCullum says no matter how scary a situation becomes it’s crucial that friends are there for each other in case life-saving measures need to be taken, and that B.C.’s Good Samaritan Act protects people who render emergency medical services from legal consequences.

"Drug disease is a medical emergency and graduates need the tools to avoid becoming a statistic," she said.

After their presentation at the high school, the public is invited to a rally in support of Michalofsky at Oliver Eats around 11:15 a.m., and there will be free pancakes.

Following that, Michalofsky’s run will take her to Penticton on June 4, Kelowna June 6; and Keremeos June 7, before she ultimately makes her way to Victoria. Follow along through her Facebook page.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Dan Walton or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2023