Pleasant View family wants to help others after son’s deadly overdose
PLEASANT VIEW, Tenn. (WKRN) — The number of fentanyl overdoses in Tennessee is frightening. From 2015 to 2021, deaths from fentanyl increased 1,518%, according to Tennessee’s top prosecutors.
One Pleasant View family lost their son days before Christmas to a fentanyl overdose.
“It takes every moment. It consumes your life,” said Mayme McGowan, discussing her late son’s addictions. “Where’s he at? What’s he doing? Is he making a good choice? So it does really begin to consume your life.”
For about a decade, that consistent feeling of worry became somewhat every day to Mayme and Bo McGowan as their son, Ashton – their little boy who loved basketball and playing with his brother and sister – grew up a teenager battling addiction.
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“Instead of stopping what’s causing them to be in the hole, they just keep digging deeper. And that’s the sad part to sit back and have a front seat to watch,” said Bo.
For Ashton, it started at 14 years old, experimenting with friends, drinking beer and smoking marijuana. Soon after, Ashton turned to anxiety pills. Over a decade, that evolved into heroin, jail time and a revolving door of treatment centers. Mayme, a nurse, saved her son’s life on more than one occasion.
“I don’t even know how many times I’ve had to narcan him. It was several,” said Mayme. “I mean, I never leave home without it. I have it in my purse all the time.”
More than once, Ashton overdosed in his parents’ basement.
“I had my lunchbox on my shoulder, headed out to go to work. I think it was a God thing that told me to just go down and. I’m sorry. I’m going to cry. And check on him. And then I found him down there. We were able to get him back. That was one of about three or four times, I think,” said Bo.
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Most recent data reveals that 3,826 Tennesseans died of a drug overdose in 2022. The state Health Department data shows fentanyl is the largest culprit, with 2,797 lives lost.
Days before Christmas, an overdose took Ashton’s life at 27 years old. His parents say the death certificate cited fentanyl and kratom toxicity.
“That evening about 5:15, he sent him a text saying, ‘Hey, are you awake for work?’ And he didn’t answer. And he went downstairs, and yelled for me. And we found him. And immediately, I gave him Narcan and began CPR. And he called 911. But, I knew it was too late that time,” said Mayme.
Ashton’s decade of struggling came to an end on Dec. 21, 2023. But for his loving parents, siblings and his two kids, the grief is never over.
“There are days when you just want to curl up in a ball and cry all day long,” said Mayme. “It’s a nightmare. I wouldn’t wish it on any parent in the world.”
“No one wants to be an addict,” said Mayme. “He and I talked a lot. And he said, ‘you can’t even understand how it never leaves my brain.’ And so many other addicts, the same thing – they’ll say, ‘Why can’t I just be normal? Why can’t I be like a normal person? Why is it always in my brain?'”
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Mayme and Bo said they tried every parenting tool over those ten years, but they had to learn to separate Ashton their son from Ashton the addict. And now they share those hard life lessons with others.
“If you are an addict, don’t give up hope. If you relapse, it’s a step back. It’s not a death sentence. Don’t just throw up your hands and give up. Always hold on to hope,” said Bo.
Mayme and Bo would like to see the person who sold their son a deadly mix of kratom and fentanyl charged with murder. Law enforcement is investigating Ashton’s case. According to the family, prosecutors are working to get Ashton’s story in front of a grand jury.
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