She woke up and found her two children killed by an overdose: now she is fighting so that no mother can live the same thing

That morning of 2015, Jack had slept longer than usual, so Becky Savage He entered his room and opened the windows to wake him up. He picked up the clothes his son had left on the floor and asked him to get up again. Thinking that he was unaware of it, he approached it. It was the first minutes of a devastating tragedy. The biggest fear of any father.

Jack, 18, was motionless in his bed. I did not breathe His mother, a nurse by profession, called 911 and, still in tears, jumped on him to start CPR. She shouted at Nick to help herbut Nick, 19, did not listen to him.

When emergency services arrived at the home located in Granger, Indiana, resuscitation continued. A few minutes later, a heart-rending scream shook the house. That was Becky, who I begged the paramedics not to stop trying. That they will fight for the life of their son. They could not do anything. He was dead.

Still stunned, Becky rallied to go down the stairs and look for Nick. The eldest of his four children had remained sleeping in the basement with friends. Suddenly, the paramedic team that had seen Jack rushed up the stairs.

It was hard to understand what was going on until he saw the disgusted expression of Nick's friends in the basement. They had called for emergencies: Nick did not wake up either. Becky then remembers what one of the paramedics called a coroner.

The two brothers were only 18 months old. These were two extroverted teenagers, who were successful in sports and studies. "One was the best friend of the other," Becky recalled in a newspaper interview. Chicago Tribune.

The night before this dramatic June 14, 2015, Nick and Jack they had left together to a graduation party The eldest brother had returned home after his first year in Indiana and Jack had just graduated from high school and had been accepted to school. State University Ball.

Becky prepared an appetizer that she left wrapped in the kitchen for her return. At midnight he found that the boys had arrived and went to sleep. In the morning, his world collapsed.

June 14, 2015, Becky's husband had left town. He was with his two youngest children at the country house when she called him. From a strangled voice, he asked her to come back immediately. Mike Savage did not know what had happened until he pbaded the door of the family home and He saw the paramedics. They never slept in this house again.

Jack and Nick died of an overdose after being mixed up at the graduation party alcohol with l & # 39; oxycodone, a very powerful and addictive opioid badgesic that kills thousands of Americans every year.

"Why did not they just say no?"

Since the fatal morning of 2015, Mike and Becky Savage are looking for the same question every day: "Why would not they just say no? After the death of their children, they review what happened minute by minute, month before, month before, day before … Compulsively, they look again and again for answers.

"He's still chasing me"Becky told students at St. Charles East High School at her first lecture in the Chicago School District.

"They were children like you," he added in front of the silent audience. "They were smart, with a bright future, but they made a bad choicehe said, showing pictures of his children.

In 2017, the United States declared a national emergency for use of opiates. According to figures from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the overdose of this type of pain killer has caused the death of 47,600 Americans that year.

The increased consumption of these substances in the United States has pushed Becky and Mike not to turn their backs on what has happened. A community organization asked them to attend a conference on the consumption of alcohol in minors. They doubted, but eventually they did it.

Becky sensed this conference as a "wake up call" in front of 200 people. Suddenly, I was faced with "a room full of people who I was terrified of what could happen to them ".

After that, many schools asked Mike and Becky to speak at events with their students to warn them Actual consequences of opiate use. Since then, the couple goes to school and meets parents to explain to them that a "little pill can kill anyone". They tell their story and hope that it help children make better decisions and avoid their parents the pain they face every day.

For this purpose, they also created the 525 Foundation, figures that Jack and Nick had in their luggage when they played hockey. At various conferences, they inform students about opioids and other substancesand encourage parents to talk with their children about Jack and Nick.

"It helps me heal", Revealed Mike speaking of the foundation. "It's a legacy for Jack and Nick."