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

Dear Mrs. Walz,
I am an ambassador for the Drug Epidemic Memorial Walls. I would like to introduce you to my
son, Seth Carlson, my baby boy, and share his/our family’s story. I usually start with the last
days of Seth’s life, but I want to go back to before Fentanyl took over his life. Like many others
dealing with Substance Use Disorder, Seth suffered from depression and anxiety.
Seth was born Nov. 16th, 2004. He was 4 weeks early, but still almost 8 lbs. He was the baby.
His older siblings adored him. He was so smart. He was my boy. Throughout his life, Seth was
in Cub Scouts, Robotics and football.
Beginning in Seth’s 4th grade year, Seth started playing football. He was a natural. In his 8th
grade year, we went to tryouts to be on a football team to represent MN. We spent the next
month’s traveling to different locations for games and camps. That was our time together.
In his freshman year, a friend gave him what he thought was a Percocet, but was actually
Fentanyl. This was the start of the end. Over the next three years, Seth’s deadly addiction
caused legal issues, relationship issues, 3 non-fatal fentanyl poisonings, and 4 unsuccessful
rehab stints. Did you know that it takes roughly 14 months for the brain to be retrained after
addiction and that inpatient stays last 30-60 days usually?
On October 25, 2022 I picked Seth up from the train station, we went and got his new glasses
and talked about his birthday in 3 weeks. He had been clean for 3 months. It felt like I had my
boy back. At that time, I did not know that Seth left school early that day and met a dealer to
purchase pills. That evening, I did not check on him. He was a teenage boy and frequently did
not come out of his room. I did not think anything of it. I texted him goodnight, did not get a
response and assumed he was already asleep. October 26th at about 7 AM, I found my son
dead sitting on the end of his bed with part of a pill sitting on his lip. Seth left behind 8 siblings,
3 sets of parents, grandparents, 2 nieces, friends, and a huge extended family that love and
miss him every day. Those first couple of weeks are somewhat of a blur. When I came out of
the fog of his loss, I decided that I was going to get involved and fight for education and
change. I want to prevent families from experiencing what our family experienced. I work with
families here in MN and across the country.
I was wondering if you would assist us in finding a permanent location for a Drug Epidemic
Memorial Wall at or around the capital? We have already created two virtual memorial Walls.
One with photos and one with names. I am including Seth’s frame, below. I am also including a
link to the brochure for our virtual memorial walls, albums, and our awareness campaign.
We would like our loved ones to be treated like victims. They were all victims of the Drug
Epidemic wreaking havoc on our country.
A group of our Minnesota moms would love to meet with you and work together to help spread
awareness and honor our loved ones.
Sincerely,
Tabbatha Urbanski
Bloomington, MN
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