﻿Sharon: As a mom, I really didn't understand just how addictive it was.
When the doctor said it was okay, I assumed it was okay.
I'm CEO of a company in the pharmaceutical business.
I've been in healthcare on the payer side of things my entire career.
How ironic is it that my child develops
an addiction to a prescription drug?
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My son was 19 years old when he tore his kidney.
He went into the ICU and was prescribed opioids.
What I didn't know was that even when they stopped
prescribing it for him that he'd continue to use.
Then it turned from use to abuse to addiction, full-blown addiction.
Trying to pick yourself up every day and just get
dressed and walk into the office was difficult
when you know that your child's health
and well-being is kind of hanging in the balance.
Moms want to fix things for their kids, and I couldn't fix them.
I didn't have the answers, and I didn't
have anyone to talk to about it.
My employees didn't know I was suffering from it either and nor
did my son's co-workers know that he was going through it.
I think it's the best-kept secret
and businesses want to close their eyes to it.
You have somebody who's dealing with cancer and comes
in and they're in remission, we're celebrating that.
We're celebrating in the lunchroom, we're asking
them when we see them, "How are you doing?
How are you feeling?"
Yet when you're dealing with that, either as a patient of substance
use disorder or as a loved one, no one is talking to you about it.
Just think about how much more productive those people
would be if they actually had that support system there.
I'm happy to report that my son is
in recovery and the reality is, I respect
him probably more than I respect almost anybody I've met in my life.
The strength that he had to pull from to get through this and knowing
that every single day it's still a struggle, he's taught me a lot.
Just the fact that it's out in the open and that
people like myself are sharing without shame,
provides me some hope that maybe we can start
treating substance use disorder differently.