Inspired by addiction and tragedy, these 2 moms are trying to save lives

Mary Kilroy's son Patrick Bennett didn't set out to get hooked on drugs.

After losing him to a drug overdose, she is now working to warn other parents. 

"We're losing our children," she says. "They're dying. And they're young." 

The grieving mother wants policy changes, to bring about more treatment options for addiction and safe supplies of illicit drugs.

To help push toward those changes, Kilroy, who lives in St. John's, has become one of the first two people from Newfoundland and Labrador to join a national organization called Moms Stop the Harm, a network of Canadian families impacted by drug addiction and drug-related deaths.

She knows her efforts won't bring her son back, but hopes she can help save someone else's.

"We're losing our children. They're dying. And they're young, and some only try drugs once and they die of fentanyl overdoses," said Kilroy.

Bennett started out like most little boys, born into a family who loved him and who enjoyed his good-natured ways. 

But substance abuse ran in his family — Kilroy calls it "a family disease"  — and addiction took over the lives of her and Bennett's father, she said. At a young age, he too started using alcohol and drug as a reprieve from the pain and trauma.

By the time Kilroy went into drug treatment and came out in recovery herself, Bennett was using illicit drugs and a downward spiral seemed inevitable. 

Still, Kilroy held out hope, and helped as best she could. 

"My whole reason for turning my life around was to show him that you can live without drugs and alcohol," said Kilroy.

She let Bennett live with her until the pandemic hit. His couch-surfing and drug use put him in contact with too many people, she said, and caused worries about exposing her granddaughter, who has breathing problems, to COVID-19.

Kilroy asked him to move out.