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

Dear First Lady Dawn Moore,
I am writing to you as an ambassador for the Drug Epidemic Memorial Wall. My family’s
home state is MD, but my brother passed away in DE. His death is what leads me to
contacting you. By the way he loved Baltimore. He was proud to be from Baltimore. He
loved the Orioles and the Raven's.
My brother's name is Gary Edward Koch. He is forever 37. He was the youngest of 3
children. Our family has honestly had a very bumpy road. We lost our father to alcoholism
at the young age of 50, our parents had divorced when Gary was 4yrs old. We also lost
our mother to multiple myeloma at the young age of 59. That is a lot, Gary has struggled
with addiction going back to his teen years. He was in and out of jail as well. Now from
what I've said so far, many think "oh he was just another addict". As his sister for the
entire 37 years of his life, I can tell you, that is very untrue. He had a genuine personality,
a heart bigger than most, a hilarious sense of humor, a great friend, father, son, brother,
and uncle.
Now, having an addict in the family causes a lot of stress. I will admit I was hard on my
brother a lot. I did tough love for many years. I have even taken him to court for stealing
from me during his addiction. I did this as a mother trying to protect my children. This
caused turmoil with our mother. She enabled my brother, but I cannot blame her, I would
do anything for my children as well. After our mother passed, I was Gary's “go to”. We
have a 6yr age difference, so I've always been a second mom to him anyway.
The loss of Gary has really hit me hard. He passed on 2/7/22. We were in contact
periodically, we had a group text, that consisted of him, our older sister and me. It wasn't
normal to not hear from Gary for more than a week. On 1/31/22, I went into work in a
panic. I had a sick sense something was wrong; I hadn't heard from him since 1/18/22. I
reached out to a few points of contacts he had and was just told he wasn't doing well the
last they heard. My sister and I continued our search by calling hospitals to see if he was
admitted. We had nothing. The night of 2/7/22, I received a call from Gary's ex-wife saying
she just heard from someone that he OD'D earlier in the day and they were unable to
save him. I can tell you; I was on my kitchen floor screaming "no" "please no Gary" and
crying inconsolably. My sister called the medical examiner, and our nightmare was
confirmed.
Addiction lies, cheats, & steals. It makes the addict mimic that behavior and it then kills
the addict. I have walked around in a fog since 2/7/22, my chest feels like I've been
punched in it, I continue to feel guilt and have nightmares of me trying to save him and
failing. Those nightmares feel so very raw, brutal and vivid they stick with me all day long.
I have so much love for my brother that is stuck inside me. I cry often and out of the blue.
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