This is why a father refused to hide his daughter’s heroin overdose in her obituary

[Jazzy]

When 24-year-old Molly Parks died from a heroin overdose, her devastated father refused to hide the details in her obituary.

Molly had battled with alcohol, prescription pills and heroin addiction for years and despite promising signs that she was beginning to reclaim her life, she was found dead in a restaurant bathroom with a needle in her arm.

And when her father Tom sat down at his computer the next morning to write an obituary for his daughter on Facebook, he refused to hide the details of her death – and criticized the phrase ‘died suddenly’ that he said was all-too-often ‘untruthfully’ said about those who passed away young.

‘I see a lot of obituaries from families that are losing twenty-somethings, thirty-somethings, and forty-somethings, and they’re all saying they died suddenly,’ he wrote.

‘But that’s not the truth, and we know that because we just went through it.’

Molly Parks had been in and out of rehab facilities three times in the past year, and had landed a job delivering pizza after her most recent release.

She was described as witty by family, with a love for theater, fashion, Harry Potter and playing the piano.

Tom Parks told the Washington Post that she was ‘smart, entertaining and engaging.’

‘She didn’t look like an addict. She wasn’t what you think of as a “junkie”.’

Molly's Obituary
My daughter Molly Parks made many good choices in her too short life and she made some bad choices. She tried to fight addiction in her own way and last night her fight came to an end in a bathroom of a restaurant with a needle of heroin.

Her whole family tried to help her win the battle but we couldn’t show her a way that could cure her addiction. We will always love her and miss her. If you have a friend or a relative who is fighting the fight against addiction please do everything you can to be supportive. Maybe for your loved one it’ll help. Sadly for ours it didn’t. I hope my daughter can now find the peace that she looked for on earth.

Source

Thoughts?

 

[Dee]

I think it was a smart thing to do because that is the reason why she died, and it is a good reason, a very hard-hitting reason, that may just make it more apparent for some people in Molly's situation. It's a tragedy that her addiction won, but perhaps this will change someone else's perspective.

 

[mrldii]

I admire the father's honesty and candor; too many survivors of these types of deaths want to hide it/shush it, out of *respect* for the dead or out of a fear that it will reflect poorly on the family.

I especially like his reference to the "sudden death" phrase regarding drug/alcohol deaths; anyone who's known someone who's addicted to a harmful substance knows their inevitable death from it is a long, drawn-out process that loved ones have to sit by helplessly and witness.

 

[Mercedes01]

I will never understand when some one adds they hope they find peace like they were
looking for on earth.

That kind of statement never makes sense to me

 

[WhoFlungpoo]

I think it's a good thing. Hope it inspires others to do the same. Then, maybe then show kids what the consequences are to doing drugs and other users.

 

[cali]

I hope I never have to consider writing such an obituary. If I were in his shoes I'd want to do everything possible to bring harsh awareness to the horrible reality of addiction, especially that of heroine. Its a very sad and common and widespread epidemic.