Mother writes brutally honest obituary for son who died of drug overdose

A grieving mother in Louisiana has written a brutally honest obituary for her son after he died of a drug overdose, in the hopes that his story will help others.

Hunter Lee Clemons, 22, died on 10 February “after a long battle with addiction,” wrote his mother, Christy Couvillier. Though devastated, she did not gloss over the cause of her son’s passing.

“His family would like to speak the truth about his death,” Ms Couvillier wrote. “Silence would mean Hunter’s death was in vain, but if one person’s life is saved by his story, we would tell it a million more times.”

Mr Clemons grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana. He had a “heart of gold” and “always tried to find the positive in any situation,” his mother wrote. Unfortunately, his desire to “block out the negatives” eventually led him to drugs.

“Drugs offered Hunter an escape from his demons he faced throughout his life,” Ms Couvillier said.

In 2019, Mr Clemons overdosed on heroin laced with fentanyl, which led to a four-day coma on life support.

After he woke up, Mr Clemons underwent drug rehab and moved to Jacksonville, Florida to “start a new life,” his mother wrote. For a while, he “thrived” there, getting a job as a valve technician and going fishing with his roommates.

Sadly, Mr Clemons’ addiction finally caught up with him. Ms Couvillier did not say what drug caused his death, but made it clear he died of an overdose.

“We know the pain of his suffering,” the anguished mother wrote. “We know the pain of our own suffering as his family, and we know there are hundreds of other people here in our community suffering as addicts or as loved ones to them.”

Drug-related deaths in the US have hit record highs in recent years. From May 2020 to April 2021, a total of 100,306 people died of overdoses, the CDC has reported, marking a 28.5 per cent increase from the year before. Of those deaths, 75,673 were from opioids.

In her obituary, Ms Couvillier offered her son’s tragic story as a warning to other families.

“Speaking the truths (no matter the circumstances) surrounding the epidemic of drug use may be the difference between life and death for someone,” she wrote. “In honor of Hunter’s life, we ask that truth be spread in regards to this epidemic and awareness be raised.”