Narcan Saved My Life

With the recent attacks on the recovery community and the services like Narcan, I ask that you share your story of how Narcan saved your life. We need to be loud right now ensuring our voices are heard. Narcan Saves lives, mine included.

My Introduction to Fentanyl

I was always someone who thought it would never happen to me. I think it's like that with a lot of us. I was different or impervious to overdose because I knew what I was doing. After a 20-year battle with opioids, I was at one of my lowest spots. Homeless for many years and living in a tent with a friend, we began our normal ritual process that day of preparing the items I would need to get my “fix” ready. Nothing seemed different than usual, and the amount was the typical shot I had prepared hundreds, if not a thousand times before. I even remember thinking it was not enough to get me as high as I wanted at that moment, but I was happy to not be sick.

Seconds in, I knew something wasn’t right. The next thing I knew, I was in a hospital bed with nurses standing over me describing my overdose. I was sick now and very uncomfortable so I rushed out of the hospital as fast as I could, walking four miles back to my tent and hopefully getting my "well shot". It was night now and I was nearing my area. I could see the bridge where I was camped all lit up. I knew that I was close to my camp and to my next "get-well" when I blacked out again from the shot I had taken earlier. I overdosed twice from the same shot of what I thought was heroin but now I know it was fentanyl.

This time when I woke up in the hospital, I was strapped to the bed and could not leave. The staff explained to me how I had been Narcanned after both overdoses and how lucky I was to be alive. I couldn’t for the life of me understand why it had happened, but soon after was told I had Fentanyl in my system. I had never sought it out or even known where to get it. It would take another year for me to finally accept help and begin my recovery journey, but I know that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity for the beautiful life I have today if not for the Narcan that night. I have made peace with my experiences while in active addiction and today use that experience to help those still experiencing it or just starting out in recovery to help motivate and mentor.

If my story can help shift just one perspective or save just one life, then sharing it is worth it

because everyone deserves the chance that Narcan gave me.