'Keep our kids from dying': Ottawa dad pens letter warning of overdoses

When Sean O'Leary pulled into the driveway of his family's home in the Ottawa community of Kanata on New Year's Eve, chaos was unfolding inside his garage.

His daughter had invited a few friends overand when O'Leary got home, a17-year-old boy was lying on the groundwithout a heartbeat.

"[There were] fiveor sixteenagers running around, freaking out," said O'Leary, who immediately started performing CPR while on speaker phone with a 911 operator.

"I was about 25 chest compressions in and I really didn't think he was going to come back to life."

Paramedics revived the teenby injecting him with naloxone, an antidote that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. But the whole experience coupled with the addiction struggles of his own daughter and her friends compelled O'Leary to issue a public pleawarning parents about the dangers of opioids.

• City urging NYE partygoers to pick up overdose kits

• Naloxone kits a struggle to find in Ottawa, despite councillor's urging

O'Leary said Sundaythe teen's overdose and the sudden effects of the naloxoneinjection havechanged his and his family's life.

"It was amazing. Once he was injected with that, it was just like, boom, back to life," O'Leary recalled.

The boy was a friend of his16-year-old daughter, Paige, who one week earlierhad returned home after spending almost three months in treatment for drug addiction.

"I was terrified. That was definitely one of the scariest nights of my life," shetold CBC News. "I really didn't know what was going to happen."

We can't fix the whole drug problem, but we've got to find a way as a community to keep our kids fromdying.- ParentSean O'Leary

On Friday, O'Leary wrote his open letter,pointing out there have been a number of recent overdoses in Kanata and urging parents to be on alert.

Hethinksthere needs to be more withdrawal bedsavailable for teenagers to use while they're waiting to get into drug treatment.

"We can't fix the whole drug problem, but we've got to find a way as a community to keep our kids from dying," said O'Leary.

Parents of addicts respond to letter

Over the past few daysthe letter has been shared widely on Facebook. O'Leary said the response he's received has beenoverwhelming.

A meeting is planned forThursday night to bring parents of addicts together so they can discuss how they can worktogether to help their kids. The details arebeing worked out, but O'Leary said Ottawa Public Health willbe involved so parents can learn how to use naloxone kits in case they ever need to save a child's life.

"These kids have a word for it, and it's called 'nodding off.' They just go to sleep, they nod off," said O'Leary.

Thedrug of choice for teens in his daughter's circle of friends is blue counterfeit Percocets, O'Leary said.Public health officials have warned they can sometimes be laced withthe deadly opioidfentanyl.

• Ottawa police, public health issue warning about fake prescription meds

"You can kill yourself with drugs but [in the past] it usually took some effort," said O'Leary.

"These kids can just do a few Percsat home in their bed at night ... and they go to sleep and they stop breathing. And their heart stops and they're dead."

Overdosing more common

Chloe Clark, another friend of Paige, told CBC News sheoverdosed on a mix of Xanaxand Percocetsabout a week ago.

The 17-year-old saidshe doesn't remember being revived,but was toldanother teenagersaved her life with naloxone.

"I need drugs to sleep, I need drugs to wake up in the morning, I need drugs to do stuff during the day. I need Percocets to live a normal life and it sucks," said Clark, who is set to start treatment in Ottawa on Tuesday.

Paige, who isstill trying to quit drugs, said she's happy her dad is raising awareness about what's going on in Kanata.

She said the counterfeit Percocetsthat got her addicted cost about $5 a pill and are easy to findif you know where to look.

"Not everyone is dying, but everyone is overdosing. It's crazy," she said. "It's a really big problem and it needs to stop."

Her dadsaid he's hopeful parents can set their shame aside and work together to take care of each other's children.

"Every time these kids are doing drugs, they're playing Russian roulette,"O'Leary said.

"If there's 40 families of addicts watching out for my daughter, there's more chance my daughter's going to livethan if there's just me trying to make sure she stays alive."