Wendy and Thomas Werbiskis of Easthampton last month lost their only son, Daniel, to the scourge of opioid drug overdoses that has claimed thousands of lives in Massachusetts and across the country. Now, they want to help other families avoid the hell they are enduring.
The Werbiskises did not mask the cause of their son’s death in the obituary published earlier this month: “Although he was young, strong and stubborn, Danny couldn’t overcome the horrific disease of drug addiction. Addiction does not discriminate, it doesn’t care how you look, how hard you work, how much you are loved or how hard you fight. Danny fought hard, but sadly after a 17-day hospitalization due to a drug overdose, he passed away with his parents by his side Monday, July 31, 2017.”
In an interview last week with Gazette reporter Emily Cutts, Wendy and Tom recounted in chilling detail how their son — a young man who loved fishing and worked hard at plumbing — came to die at age 26 in the intensive care unit of a Florida hospital.
After graduating in 2009 from the plumbing program at Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School in Northampton, Danny joined the Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 104, where he worked for four years.
His parents are uncertain when he began using drugs, but suspect it was when he lost a close acquaintance six years ago. “I started seeing some changes. Depression, I believe, started setting in some. He started drinking more,” his mother says. “I always say he was self-medicating to a degree. I think when the drinking wasn’t really cutting it, I think that is maybe when he picked up with drugs.”
Danny took OxyContin and Suboxone, two opioids used to treat pain, and snorted heroin, according to his parents. There were stays in treatment centers in Vermont, Massachusetts and finally Florida, where his family had him committed for three months. “When he would leave, he would relapse,” Wendy says.
Danny came home to Easthampton one final time, but refused treatment. “He was just running. At this point he was running from himself,” his mother says. “We tried to explain to him — it doesn’t matter where you go … your addiction is coming with you and he was just, he was very lost.”
Danny left in May for the last time to return to Florida where he worked for Zagar Global in Deerfield Beach. His parents got the call they dreaded July 16 from a hospital. Danny had overdosed the night before, and carfentanil — an opioid used to tranquilize large animals that is about 100 times more powerful than fentanyl – was in his system.
“It was my worst fear coming true. As a parent of an addict you live in constant fear. Constant fear because you just don’t know and it’s like Russian roulette every time they use,” Wendy says.
Danny lived for 17 days, suffering five strokes. “It was excruciating for Danny. It was a horrific death for Danny,” his mother says.
Stories similar to that told by the Werbiskises have become far too common since the 1990s when the proliferation of prescription opioids joined street drugs like heroin in fueling the overdose epidemic.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health this week reported that the number of opioid-related deaths in the state rose from 1,670 in 2015 to 1,990 in 2016. While the number of deaths has increased in Massachusetts every year since 2010, that trend may end this year. The DPH reported that there were 978 opioid-related deaths during the first six months of 2017, which is down 5 percent from the 1,031 during the same period in 2016.
The President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis issued a report earlier this month warning that “The opioid epidemic we are facing is unparalleled. The average American would likely be shocked to know that drug overdoses now kill more people than gun homicides and car crashes combined.”
By talking about their son’s addiction and eventual death, the Werbiskises have put a face on this national tragedy. “You don’t have to hide and don’t be ashamed. If you have a loved one suffering from addiction, reach out,” urges Wendy. “The more people reach out, it’s going to change the stigma. That’s what we’ve got to do. it can’t be a secret anymore.”
That kind of resolve is critical in understanding that death by opioid overdose can strike any of our neighbors, any of our families, anywhere in America.