Over six years ago now, on March 1st, 2017, Darcy Patterson lost her jovial daughter, Kirsten Yamaoka, to drug overdose. Kirsten was a bright, young girl. She was an efficient model employee at UPS. She loved reading, music, and had healthy lifestyle choices. She loved her family and was loved by everyone in her family.
While in middle school, Kirsten got exposed to a whole new world. She became friends with people, who were seniors and introduced her to substances. As her high school experience progressed, her substance use became substance abuse. There were times when she recovered and the real Kirsten emerged. After many attempts at rehabs, stints in jail, a stay in a mental health ward, and the anguishing life of a substance abuser Kirsten lost her life to overdose.
The social stigma and unawareness around substance abuse and overdose, often draws youngsters and school goers towards it. Most of those are also managing a mental health issue concurrently.
Being unaware and not being able to tackle the situation leads to addiction. Addiction is a slow process, and the body gradually becomes dependent on a particular kind of drug. This dependency starts affecting the brain and behavior. Being aware and educated about drugs, addiction and prevention, could play significant roles to combat the stigma around addiction and save lives.
One would never want to imagine how her mother felt like on that dreadful night. Instead of only grieving for the rest of her life, Darcy decided to dedicate her life to all those, who are suffering from addiction or are experiencing drug overdose. It is worth mentioning, that apart from being a mother of two lovely kids, Darcy is also a nurse by profession.
To be sure, some people might easily judge someone fighting addiction, or their family. Perhaps, they can inquire [about] parenting, morality, poor company or even character. Our societal ideas of being good and bad, unawareness about addiction and drugs, puts substance users and abusers in boxes that continue to hinder forward movement with the stigma and shame involved. Some might also ask, if Kirsten was so bright and wise, then how could she not make better choices? What was her mother doing?
To answer, I would say that it was Darcy who noticed changes in Kirsten’s behavior first. She would skip school, stay aloof and sleep for long hours. Like a concerned mother, Darcy decided to seek help. From reaching out to counselors to everyone else, Darcy did everything a parent could do. Nothing helped. That’s what addiction does. It takes one away from everything and everyone. It makes you forget who you were or who you are becoming.
Significant activism around addiction and substance abuse has happened. As a grieving mother Darcy reached out to people suffering from addiction, with tools of help like conducting opioid education, distributing free Narcan nasal sprays, Fentanyl and Xylazine test strips, at different spots across Reno, in free donation boxes; from connecting with the police department of Reno, or [running] advertisement campaigns for television, radio and social media.
What we often fail to register is that, apart from active protests, tools of care and empathy can also help to win a battle. Someone like Darcy, without caring about social stigma, her personal struggles and loss, wanted to help grieving mothers like her. It was February 2020 when Wake Up Nevada was born, to awaken Nevadans about impact of abuse and overdoses to our communities, heading towards a future where everyone has access to opioid overdose prevention.
Having awareness about substances, addiction and overdose management are some concrete ways of supporting families who have lost their loved ones to overdose. Using social media, we are trying to create awareness about Narcan nasal sprays among the younger generation of Reno. Demonstrative reels and videos about naloxone sprays, fentanyl and xylazine test strips, is small step towards spreading this word. Our goal is to ensure that Reno stops losing young lives like Kirsten and many more. Being a student of Gender, Race and Identity studies, I wanted to be a part of this mission to help communities and share the story of this strong mother and activist.
Angona Saha
Graduate Student
Department of Gender, Race and Identity
College Of Liberal Arts,
University of Nevada, Reno