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

Dear First Lady. Fran DeWine,
My name is Pamela Martinez, I live in Cincinnati. I lost my only son Denny to fentanyl
poisoning Halloween morning 2020, I found my son deceased in the bathtub, can you
imagine a mother’s horror? By far the worst day of my life and every parent’s living
nightmare. We should not be burying our children, it’s un-natural!
I know you and Governor DeWine are taking the Drug Crisis as a critical situation in Ohio,
we are fourth in the country for drug overdose/poisoning deaths, with 84% involving
fentanyl.
I know there are many things happening in Ohio to combat this crisis. I have read about
the Recovery Foundation Board, New Data Dashboards to measure overdose and
substance abuse measures. New courses for Financial Advisors and treatment maps for
families addressing the high cost of treatment. Ohio has developed one of the nation's
most aggressive and comprehensive approaches to combating drug abuse, addiction and
overdoses, and is investing more than $1 billion a year in this fight.
I am a member of Not in Vain, Lost Voices of Fentanyl and the Drug Epidemic Memorial
(DEMW). The goal of the DEMW is to put up a Memorial Wall in all 50 State Capitol
complexes to honor our lost loved ones and to continue to be a voice for them.
To achieve this and to be successful we will need your help, please. Will you help us, let
the nation know that we as Ohioans will not tolerate this to continue and we will do all we
can to stop these senseless deaths. It won’t bring my son back, but if I can help save one
life, one parent’s heartache and grief; my son will have not died in vain. By displaying their
faces and names in our state Capitol, they will continue to live on in memoriam, rather
than becoming a quiet statistic.
Let me tell you a little about my son, he was a brother to his two sisters, a grandson, a
nephew, a cousin, an uncle and friend. He had a kind, sensitive heart and soul. He loved
life, he was an incredible athlete, he was so funny, just goofy, a great writer, very
intelligent, had a great memory, we loved to watch Jeopardy together. He loved anything
to do with sports, geography and history. He was a Mama’s boy and didn’t mind anyone
knowing it! He had the most amazing doe like brown eyes, I miss those eyes, I miss his
laugh, I just miss my son.
What he will never be is a husband, a father, a brother to his sisters and he will never
grow old. His story wasn’t finished, as parents what was taken from us can’t be fixed, time
won’t heal it and we won’t get over it. What we can do is to keep telling their stories, end
the stigma and prejudice toward the disease of addiction/drug users.