Cheryl Offord lost her 22-year-old daughter Shylynn to a drug overdose just five months ago, but the mother is turning her grief into a fight that many don’t have the chance to have.
Offord set up a spot at Meridian Place yesterday to honour what she hopes will turn into an annual event for Overdose Awareness Day, with a goal to bring attention to the ever-growing drug addiction problem in the city, the county, and around the world.
Offord spoke to BarrieToday about her thoughts on what today means and what people can expect if they come down.
“Today is for everyone who is struggling with this opioid war, that’s what I call it. It's not a crisis, it's a war,” said Offord. “People are dying at alarming rates, so I wanted to come down here and raise some awareness about it and share some of Shylynn’s story with anyone who comes by.”
Shylynn Offord was addicted for six years, on and off, but more on than off, her mom told BarrieToday.
Despite getting clean for a few months when she was away, the issue became worse when she came home and there was no clinical support system for her to attend.
“She struggled very hard with a lot of trauma in her life, some of that when she was a young girl and the drugs became a self-soothing thing for her,” said Offord. “She was away for four months in sobriety, but when she came home there was no support, her treatment fell from under her feet and she wasn’t able to get in for help for a while.
"Shylynn came home, relapsed the second day and it took her life.”
Offord says she understands it's a money issue that doesn’t allow for more help for those seeking it and has seen long wait times for addicts who want treatment, but stresses many like her 'Shyger,' as she called Shylynn, don’t have time to wait.
Offord also told BarrieToday she's “on the fence” with the supervised consumption site discussion in Barrie.
“I am on the fence with the safe consumption sites, only for certain things,” said Offord. “I believe it is going to save lives and I would want any life to be saved, but on the addiction level, I don’t know where they’re aiming to do that.
"I’ve heard they will have people at these sites to talk to about receiving help, but I don’t know where the help is," she added. "It's just not out there and accessible quickly enough. There is a waiting game for treatment and anyone who is seeking assistance doesn’t have any time to wait.”
Offord does like the idea of a safe place for addicts to consume, as her daughter was not in one and proper procedures could have saved her life.
Yesterday was about healing and getting to know the face behind addiction, Offord said. She hoped people of all backgrounds would come over and ask her what the memorial is about, ask about her daughter and grab a purple ribbon after writing a message on the paper heart cut-outs available.
“If you’ve never been affected by an overdose, that is great and this is still for you, knowing and educating yourself can help,” said Offord. “But I also hope Shylynn’s other family, her addiction family, will come by. I don’t look at them like people that ruined her, because they didn’t. I can’t blame them for what happened, that was indeed her family when she was down here.
"I hope they come by and see that someone cares, because all too often they get the impression that no one cares and I’m here to say we do and we want to help in any way," she added. "I will help through Shylynn’s vision. She wanted to stop, she wanted to help others, but it had a hold of her and we all need to help take that hold off everyone.”
Offord plans on having more events to raise awareness throughout the year and is hoping to be able to announce any happenings on the Facebook page she put together called Shylynn's Voice and Dreams.