The mother of a New Jersey man who died of a drug overdose hopes a brutally honest obituary will help “conquer the heroin epidemic” that killed her only child.
Stephanie Oswald, of Hamilton, said raising addiction awareness will now be the center of her universe in the aftermath of the death of her 23-year-old son, Andrew Oswald III, who died from a heroin overdose on Jan. 27.
“He was my miracle baby, I wasn’t supposed to be able to get pregnant,” Oswald told The Post. “I always told him he had a purpose on this Earth, but this isn’t exactly what I had in mind. But I’m sure not going to let this go — ever.”
Oswald said she hopes her son’s untimely death and a brutally honest obituary she penned along with her husband and sister will help others fight their addictions and eventually seek rehabilitation.
“And I will be the head of that action,” Oswald said. “This is now my life’s work. I have some really good ideas and I’ve always been a person who will push, scream and crawl to get what I want. There’s going to be an Andrew’s Law when I’m done with this.”
Oswald said she intends to target the use of and regulations on Narcan — a drug used to revive people who have overdosed — as well as an awareness campaign about the dangers of opioids.
“I want to stop the revolving door of junkies who are able to just overdose and go to a hospital and get Narcan and go back out on the street,” Oswald said. “I believe everyone should have access to Narcan, but regardless of their age, their family should be called so they have a chance at life again.”
Oswald said she believed her son only used heroin for a total of five to six months, beginning by snorting the drug. Once they realized he was using, Oswald and her husband sent their son to a rehab facility in Pennsylvania.
“He spent 90 days there and three months in a sober living house,” Oswald’s obituary reads. “He got a job and moved into an apartment with two of his sober friends. He seemed to be thriving until we got a call from a friend telling us he was injecting heroin. We did everything we could to get him to stop but heroin won the battle.”
When Andrew passed away, a part of his “ridiculously close” family died along with him, Stephanie Oswald said.
“We will miss him every day for the rest of our lives,” his obituary continued. “The pain of his death is heartbreaking and intolerable, which is why stories like Andrew’s should not be ignored. The only way we will conquer the heroin epidemic is to share our stories and raise awareness.”
Oswald said her son was recently working as a direct care counselor at EIHAB Human Services, which helps children and adults with developmental disabilities and behavioral health issues. He had discussed the possibility of turning the job into a career, she said.
A celebration of Oswald’s life will be held at D’Errico Whitehorse Mercerville Chapel in Hamilton at 3 p.m. Saturday. The ceremony will focus on every life he touched, his mother said.
“It’s going to be amazing, his celebration of life will be incredible,” she said. “I don’t know how we’re going to fit everyone. And it will be a celebration.”
Asked what she would say to other parents who see their children struggling with addiction, Oswald replied: “There’s nothing wrong with taking an extra look at your child when you see them. You need to be on your toes when it comes to your children. Just watch them and be aware — and hug them extra tightly.”
The CDC announced in December that more than 52,000 people died from drug overdoses in the United States in 2015, 61 percent of which involved prescription drugs or illicit opioids. Heroin death rates also increased 20.6 percent from 2014 to 2015, and since 2000, more than 300,000 Americans have died from opioid overdoses, statistics show.
“Too many Americans are feeling the devastation of the opioid crisis either from misuse of prescription opioids or use of illicit opioids,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden.
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