Family Pose By Casket Of Dead Husband To Show ‘Hard Truth That Heroin Kills’
A bereaved mother-of-two has posed with her children by the casket of her deceased husband – to raise awareness about the dangers of heroin use.
Eva Holland, whose husband Mike Settles, 26, died of an overdose earlier this month, is seen smiling with children Lucas and Ava following their father’s funeral.
Holland, from Cincinnati, Ohio, shared the bold image on Facebook and Instagram with a lengthy explanation in the hope “it can help anyone”.
“I’m sure this photo makes a lot of people uncomfortable it may even p*** a few people off but the main reason I took it was to show the reality of addiction,” she wrote.
“If you don’t choose recovery every single day this will be your only way out. No parent should have to bury their child and no child as young as ours should have to bury their parent.
Eva, Mike and children Lucas and Ava (Eva Holland/Facebook)
“This was preventable it didn’t have to happen but one wrong choice destroyed his family.
“I know a lot of people may be upset I’m putting it out in the open like this, but hiding the facts is only going to keep this epidemic going. The cold hard truth is heroin kills,” she added.
“You may think it will never happen to you but, guess what, that’s what Mike thought, too.”
You can see the post in full below.
In the tragic caption, Holland explained that the pair were together since teenagers – and long before he became addicted to the Class-A drug.
According to Holland, Settles had left rehab in December 2014 a “brand new man,” but relapsed after being prescribed medicine to combat toothache.
The Facebook post has been shared almost 250,000 times with most of its hundreds of comments positive.
Holland followed up the post with an update about a chance meeting with a heroin user who said the picture had made her assess her own addiction.
Holland’s lengthy Facebook post (Eva Holland/Facebook)
