Hawk Walk 2008 First Steps For Recovery

This past weekend was our 3rd Annual Hawk Walk First Steps For Recovery 5K family fun walk the proceeds of which go to support The 24 Group, a not for profit foundation that provides support to families whose children struggle with addiction.  To promote participation in the event my sister-in-law Sheila sent the following email to her colleagues at the Community North Emergency Room where she has worked for many years and where ironically our son (her nephew) died in June of 2001.

She has given me permission to share with you her note which not only allows me to thank publicly many of the staff who tried so valiantly to save David's life that bright warm day but at the same time share a few intimate details of David's last days that his mother and I were not aware of until we read this note.

From: Sheila 
Sent: Saturday, October 04, 2008
To: Emergency Room Staff
Subject: Please take a moment to read

Hi.  I am not one who normally asks for donations or anyone to help with school fund-raisers, but I am involved in a project that is near and dear to my heart.  I am asking you to take a moment to read this.

On June 9, 2001 my nephew David was with friends at a backyard pool.  As many teens often times do, David thought he was invincible and able to try anything and still be ok.  David and his friends were huffing a can of aerosol keyboard cleaner.  He went into cardiac arrest and drowned.  The medics were called and he was brought into Community Hospital North ER.   Two of Lawrence Townships best medics (Jeff Wayne and Steve Stanley) were at the scene.  The ER staff that day were the best the department had to offer (Dr Hale, Dr Eshelman, Kathy Guise, Pat Myers, Rose Emerson, Kelly Jenkins and many more that my mind just can't remember).  Still David was too far gone and pronounced dead at 3pm. 

Ironically  David was supposed to be a summer volunteer in the ER that year.  One week earlier I brought David to ER with me to take a tour.  He was so excited to start working here and was particularly intrigued by the shock rooms.  In fact, when we stopped in Shock Room 1, he said he could tell he wanted to spend a lot of time in there.  One week later, he died in that room. 

David came from a loving home, parents were supportive, educated and very involved in their son's lives and friends.  Still, he made choices that were risky and took his life.  Needless to say, this was very devastating to my sister, to me and my entire family. 

Since his death, my sister and brother in law have become very active in educating other parents about drug abuse and warning signs.  They have formed a group called The 24 Group which supports families whose children struggle with addiction and funds drug education and awareness programs.  One of the fund raising projects is a Hawk Walk which takes place on Saturday Oct 11. 

I have posters in the break room and locker rooms in ER as well as flyers in a few mailboxes about the annual HawkWallk.  If you are free on the morning of the 11th, please come join us for a 5K.  If not and you are able to make a small contribution to The 24 Group, that would be awesome.  Mostly, please remember my family in your prayers.  I would like to think that David's death did not occur uselessly.  Hopefully his story will benefit others who face the dilemma of teenage drug abuse. 

Thank you,  Sheila

If you are interested, you can log onto www.The24Group.org and read about what the group does.  There is also a blog written by my brother in law Kim Manlove about his struggles to cope after his son's death.  Warning - have a box of Kleenex by your side - it's quite the tear jerker.  Also if you are in Chicago and at Navy Pier, there is a display about drugs and my nephew is one of the featured stories.