USA First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff

Dear First Lady M K Pritzker,
I am an ambassador for the Drug Epidemic Memorial Wall. I lost my son, Eduardo
(EJ) Caballero, on September 12, 2021, at the age of forever 29. I went to church
that morning & went to wake him after I realized that it was after 1 pm & he usually
was up by 11 a.m. when his children were not at our home. The door was locked
which was unusual. When my husband unlocked the door, I found him at the foot of
his bed. He was already cold to the touch. It was cocaine with Fentanyl poisoning.
His death was a complete shock to his three children, his ex-wife, his friends & his
family here & in South America. I still miss him every day & sometimes cannot
fathom that this happened to him.
EJ was a wonderful & sensitive young man. He was very charming & enjoyed
soccer very much. He enjoyed cooking & hanging with his children. He loved
working on cars. He was the bright spot of the family. Unfortunately, the drugs
changed him so much & he knew he needed help but just couldn’t do it. He had
been in & out of detox & Narcotics Anonymous. He just could not stay sober.
He was Dad to Mia, 11; Max, 8 & Meliani 6. The children were very young & miss
him very much. His youngest was very close to him & told me one time in tears,
“Why was I born last?”. She felt that she didn’t have enough time with her dad. That
was so hard that a child at 5, could realize that she missed out on him. He had one
sister, my daughter Marisa. She has withdrawn very much in her life & is just slowly
getting back to normal. Our relationship suffered as well as she retreated and was
so angry that she had lost her baby brother. The grief at times is unspeakable,
unbearable & unstoppable. In 2021, there were 3,013 fatalities due to opioid
overdose in Illinois. I am committed to ending these losses & honoring my son and
the other children’s lives.
Our children need to know the dangers presented to them daily around this
epidemic. My son was very depressed from his divorce & his father not being
around. He turned to Xanax for his anxiety & with the Covid epidemic, it caused
more of a depression, it snowballed from there until he was killed. We need to
address the grieving of all these families. I’m hopeful as a mother you will
understand the urgency I & countless other mothers in Illinois feel towards ending
this epidemic, educating our children, & addressing the mental health of substance
users as well as those in grief.
317