They were ‘loving people’: five parents try to make sense of their children’s opioid deaths, advocate for change

Their Kids Are Among the 224 Who Died from Opioids Over a Five-Year Span in Brant, but these parents want others to know their children are more than statistics.

Content

Content

Recounded Videos

Content

They Were Loving People Caught in the Web of the Opioid Crisis.

In 2019, Brantford and Brant County Had the Highest Number of Opioid Fatalities Per Capita in Ontario.

The Two Municipalities have a combined Population of Roughly 150,000 and Lost an Average of 30 Residents per Capita to Opioids for Each of the Last Five Years-Nearly Double the Provincial Average Of 16. (In Hamilton It was 24, and 14 in Haldimand-Norfolk , According to public Health Ontario Data.)

Deborah MacDonald’s Son Brodie, 28, was “One of the Most Loving People” and a “Creative Soul.” He made Beautiful Music and was in the Process of Writing Out His Goals for the Future when He Died from Opioids in a Brantford Hotel Room in 2021.

Brodie Faced Many Challenges in His Life – He Had Years of Misdiagnosed Asperger’s Syndrome and Got Into Mischief, To the Point He Spent Some Time in Jail, But his Death Erased All of That For Macdonald.

Content

“Once They’re Gone, The Only Thing That You Can Remember is Every good Time You Ever Had… When You’re Looking at Pictures, You’re Only Remembering the Love,” She Told the Spectator Recently.

She hopes Telling Her Story Will Help Bring Attention and Understanding to the Epidemic, and Several Other Parents She has connected with feel the same.

“We go to go through the same, we understand each other,” Krista Cabral Told the spectator. She lost Her Daughter Brittani Sylvestre, 34, in 2023, and has since Started a Facebook page to Commemorate Her, and Spread Awareness about the Crisis.

In Their Small Online Community, The Parents Share Their Stories and Frustrations, Grieve, and Work to Create Change for Drug Users and the People Who Love Them.

Content

Why Brantford-Brant?

The factors driving the opioid fatality statistics are “extremely complicated,” Local Drug Strategy Co-Orderator Alyssa Stryker Previously Told the spectator.

She suggests Brantford Struggles with “A lot of social determinants of health,” and while there are “amazing” service providers in the area, there’s “definitely room for growth.”

The City Hoped to Be Approved for One of 27 Homeless and Addiction Recovery Treatment (Hart) Hubs, But While Hamilton was, Brantford Mosed Out.

When asked by the spectator Why Brantford was approved for a hub, or if additional hubs might be approved in the future, minister of health spokesperson hannah jensen declined to ANSWER the questions, INTEAD NOTING THAT THE MINISTRY “continues to work with partners across across across across across The province to ensure people can connect to convent access to care. ”

Content

Macdonald Wonders If Better Access to Care Could Have Helped Her Son Brodie.

When He was Incarcearad, Brodie was given xanax for anxiety. By the time he cams out, he couldn’t function without it.

Macdonald Took Him to the Doctor, who She Said Gave Him A Limited Supply of Benzodiazepine, But Brodie Blew Through It. The Doctor Said He Would Have to Wit A Month To Get More. “SO NOW BRODIE’s Going Into withdrawal from XANAX,” So Unbeknownst to Macdonald, He Started “Going to the Street” and getting “Whatever He Could to Make Himself Feel Better,” She Said.

She tried in vain to get Brodie Into Psychologist, Psychiatrist and Addiction Worker, But was told the was already six months to a year. “He’s Going to Be Dead in Six MONTHS,” She Remembers Saying, Frustrated.

Content

Not long after surviving his second overdose, Macdonald Remembers Brodie Telling Her that if it cams down to it, he’d want to be bured. “I Want Some of Me Left here on Earth.”

“Well, Brodie, i Hope I never have to use that information, and i hop that we can get you the help you need and get you on the right track. We go to go to do that right? ”

“Yeah, Mom,” He Said. Five Weeks Later, He was gone.

There are “signs” the Brantford-Brant Community Drugs Strategy and Its Member Organizations Are “Having an Impact,” Reads the Introduction of the 2025 Action Plan.

In 2024, The Rate of Overdose Deaths in Brantford-Brant Remaine Above the Provincial Average, But Between 2021 and 2024, there was a 20 per cent Drop in Brantford-Brant’s suspect Drug Fatality Rate, Which Was Faster Than The Provincial Rate.

Content

Last Year, 23 residents we lost to suspect Opioid-Related Deaths, and While “Even one person is too much,” That is Half the number of Deaths Compared to 2022, Something the Action Plan Introduction Pointed to as an “encouraging” sign.

The Humans Behind the Stats

Aaron Dinola, 32, Died Nov. 6, 2021.

Paul Dinola Wakes Up Every Morning at 4:30. It’s the time he got the call that his sound, 32, Had overdoseed at “A Little Trap House.” He races there to find paramedics trying to revive aaron. Aaron Had His Electrician’s License, A Renovation Business, and A Habit of Giving Away His Winter Clothes to People who Needed Them More. It Still Angers Dinola to Think That Went Went to Jail, He was given any medication to help Him Deal with withdrawal symptoms. He hopes no one else has to go through that.

Content

Brolyn Antone, 28, Died Dec. 12, 2023.

When Mandy Patten’s his Brolyn, 28, Went to Jail, It was a relief. “Maybe now you’ll Still be alive for a little bit,” She Remembers Thinking. She Didn’t Have The Money for A Private Rehab Program, But Did “Everything” She Could to get Him Help. He Did Well in the Ontario Correctional Institute Treatment Program, But Had a Tough Time in A Transitional Program Once he Got Out. Two Weeks Before Christmas, Patten’s Neighbour Woke Her Up to Tell Her Someone was face down on her back porch. “Oh my God, It’s Brolyn,” Patten Remembers Thinking as She ran to the back door. She Rolled Him Over Over Onto His Back and Realized He was Already Gone. But His Sister Was Watching from the Kitchen Window, Going “Ballistic.” Patten Felt She Had to Do Chest Compresses Even Though She Knew it was too. “I’m trying, i’m trying,” she said, but it was no use.

Content

Brittani Silvestre, 34, Died Sept. 6, 2023.

Krista Cabral’s Daughter Brittani, 34, was to hairdress and mom to a toddler. Brittani had overdoseed and been given naloxone twice by an acquainment before font showed up at her apartment in September 2023. Police asked if wanted medical help, and she declined. Sometime in the Early Hours of the Morning, She Died, and Her Toxicology Report Showed Eight Times The Fatal Dose of Fentanyl in Her System. CABRAL has made it her mission since then to educate first breath, drug users and the general public, that after receiving naloxone, it’s imperive to get medical attention. But she thinks Other Changes Need to Happen Too – Like Tougher Punishments for Drug Dealers, Who She Believes Are “Getting Away with Killing People.”

Content

Kourie Jacob Liverance, 30, Died Nov. 22, 2023.

Bernice Liverance Frequently has flashbacks to the night she found her his kourie, 30, unresponsive in his bed. He was funny, smart, and would give you the shirt off his back. He was Starting His Own Roofing Company and Drove A Nice Car, Liverance Said. But when people found out he uesd fetanyl, she saw them “Just Automatically assumes that (He’s) not a part of Society.” She Wonders if he was griranty compassion and empathy from the People who Regularly Interact with Drug Users-In Treatment Programms, Jail, and the Health-Care System-If She Wouldn’t Have Been Saying Her Last Goodbye “To af- (body) bag. ”

Celeste Percy-Beauregard is a local journalism initiative reporter based at the hamilton spectator. The Initiative is Funded by the Government of Canada

Content