The human tragedy of the Opioid/Fentanyl crisis in Renfrew County
Renfrew – “I don’t want my son to become just another statistic,” Tina Dunn told the Leader in an exclusive interview Tuesday.
Ms. Dunn said she is not sure if her now deceased 28-year-old son, Skylar Eady, had a chance to fully enjoy what would be his last Victoria Day Weekend which is associated with the arrival of warm summer weather. One thing she does know, despite not having the official Coroner’s report detailing the cause of death, she could only offer support and love as her son struggled with addiction.
“Skylar was in a house that everyone knows is a drug-den and it was there that my son took too much of something -- likely Fentanyl -- and after that, nobody is sure what happened. All I know is that around 10 o’clock Tuesday night I got a frantic call from my dad (Ron Dunn). He said he got a call that someone heard on the scanner that Skylar was on his way to the hospital.”
Ms. Dunn said everything after that phone call is kind of blurry and she can’t exactly remember what the whole conversation was but she knows the paramedics were called to a residence on Vimy Boulevard and they were rushing him to the hospital (Renfrew Victoria).
“Although doctors and nurses did everything they could, we lost Skylar,” she said. “We lost him because our streets are filled with young people selling opioid and fentanyl to other young people who end up dying. We need to shut these drug houses down before we lose another one of our children.”
Having said goodbye to her son last Saturday was only one part of what can best be described as her being trapped in a living nightmare that has kept her on an emotional rollercoaster that would knock the strongest person to the ground.
Skylar’s older brother, Josh Eady, was not at his brother’s funeral. Josh Eady is missing and nobody has seen or heard from him for almost four weeks. Having lost one son to the scourge of addiction, she is moving heaven and earth to find Josh and bring him home to Renfrew where he has the support of family and friends who love him and want him to get the medical attention he needs.
“Josh has battled addiction for the last few years and I want my son to know he is loved and we are here for him to help him get better,” she said. “I can tell you one thing for sure. There is absolutely no way in a million years that Josh would miss saying goodbye to his little brother unless something is keeping him from coming home to Renfrew.”
She said Josh would go out of his way to help a total stranger if they were in trouble and that is just who he is.
“Like so many young people today, Josh has issues, and he has issues with drugs,” she said. “Despite getting in trouble with the law over the years and struggling at times, he never had an issue for standing up for his family. He is not here and I am afraid it is not a case of him not knowing what is going on. Someone or something has kept him from saying goodbye to Skylar.”
For a full week she and family members were juggling between coping with her son’s death and attending his funeral while at the same time flooding social media platforms with pictures of Josh and messages of love and desperation. Anyone who frequents local Facebook pages could not have missed hundreds, if not thousands of notes regarding Josh as the information was shared throughout Eastern Ontario and beyond.
Two days after Skylar’s funeral, she and family members were in Ottawa following up on any tip…no matter how insignificant the tip might have been, she followed up on it. She and various police forces have been in contact with every hospital, every jail, every shelter and every other possible site Josh might have been over the last month. She will never give up and she has literally begged total strangers on social media to help her help Josh.
“If anyone out there has heard or seen him or heard second hand about him, please tell him there is a family tragedy and we want him to come home,” she told the Leader while fighting back tears. “Just like Skylar, my son Josh is loved unconditionally and let him know he is not in any trouble, but that his family and friends are worried and we want to help him.”
Bruce McIntyre, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eganville Leader
