‘The disease was just too strong’: Parents who lost son to drug overdose speak out against addiction stigmas
COLUMBIA, Tenn. (WKRN) — On April 5, 2017, one Columbia family lost their son to addiction.
Greg Witthauer died from a drug overdose. He would’ve been 31 years old in 2024.
The CDC reports that in 2020, an average of 44 United States Citizens die from overdoses involving prescription opioids every day.
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Meanwhile, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reports that Tennessee is ranked third in the country for prescription drug abuse, with 70,000 Tennesseans addicted to opioids.
“It’s out there; it’s prevalent,” Greg’s father, Mark Witthauer, explained.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports throughout the country, they have seen a significant increase in opioid-related overdose deaths, from nearly 70,000 in 2020 to more than 80,000 in 2021.
“You hear the numbers, but the numbers are just a statistic,” Mark said. “Every one of these is a single individual that was affected, and their families were affected by addiction.”
Greg had been fighting addiction since he was 15 years old and went to nine different rehab centers throughout his life.
“Each time that they go, you think I’m praying, and I am hoping that this is the time,” Greg’s mother, Karen Witthauer, said.
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Karen and Mark told News 2 that Greg was one of those people who would genuinely light up a room with his smile. For the last seven years, the Witthauers have remembered his joy and humor with a yearly balloon release in honor of their son.
“He wanted to be sober and he wanted to be clean and live a ‘normal life’ as he would call it, but the disease was just too strong,” Karen said. “He said, ‘You know, mom, if I can help one person either want to try to be clean and sober or to start their sobriety, then my journey will have been worth it.'”
Now, his parents are continuing his goal to help others through a foundation called Always Have Heart. The organization serves as a resource for other families going through similar situations and breaks down the stigma of addiction.
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“If you had cancer, you’d go to your friends and your family and your church and say, ‘Pray for me, help me. What can I do? What advice do you have?'” Mark said. “With addiction, you don’t have that; it’s a quiet, secretive disease because no one wants to talk about that, and it’s just as much of a disease as that is.”
If you are struggling with substance abuse, call 988.
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