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

Dear Governor Gretchen Whitmer,
I am the MI State Lead and an ambassador for the Drug Epidemic Memorial Wall. I lost
my beautifully talented, 2nd born son, Luke on August 23, 2021, at the age of 25. After
not hearing from him for 26 hours, I made several phone calls (as he was temporarily
staying in Chicago; (we live in Michigan) only to find out my son had passed away in his
bedroom of Fentanyl Poisoning. Luke had a deadly mixture of Xanax and Fentanyl in
his system. Our family has been completely devastated by his loss, and we miss him
every minute.
Luke was a beautiful giving soul, he had 3 college degrees, ran his own business, and
managed a Crumble Bakery. He brought us constant laughter, he painted the most
beautiful paintings, and he was a talented clothing line designer. He had his own
clothing line, Takin All Bet$, which we have since carried on raising awareness of illicit
drugs. He was a brother, a cousin, a son, grandson, nephew; and loved deeply. Our
family has been left with a complete hole in our hearts. Luke has five brothers, he was
the second of six, each of his brothers mourn him outright, loudly, and carry a heavy
burden. Our entire family has sought counseling and therapy, and we work in outreach.
I work with nonprofit groups trying to bring awareness and education to a society that
has put such a stigma on this issue. It is hard to make anyone see the devastation that
Fentanyl is causing this nation if they haven’t experienced it directly.
My son suffered with SUD, he entered rehabilitation in Dec 2020; upon his return home
he started his daily counseling and follow up programs. Unfortunately, when Covid-19
hit and most programs were delayed or shut down, this created an environment where
maintaining sobriety became very difficult. Luke relapsed after 6 months of sobriety in
the summer of 2020. He tried to turn himself around, went to NA meetings, (which we
attended), started meditation, and attending church seeking to turn his life around. The
Covid-19 Pandemic took a toll on so many, that not only lost their lives to the virus; but
so many more that were trying to get it together.
I understand that as our Governor, you have made tangible changes to areas of
infrastructure, Homeowner assistance, and small business growth. We are seeking
support in areas of awareness, and a more conscious effort and response to the
overwhelming statistics of death by fentanyl in the state of Michigan. Per Michigan
Monthly Update 2023 (May) there were over three thousand deaths in 2021, the year I
lost my son. As of May 2023, there are over 1900 deaths within the first 5 months of
this year. We must bring action to this and ask for action to be taken to provide the
awareness we so badly seek to get to the public.
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