Madelyn Ellen Linsenmeir: The details of an emotional obituary turn into opioid addiction

There were 12 unforgettable days.

Twelve days at home with his relatives. Twelve days watching children's movies and chatting around the table. Twelve days that Madelyn Ellen Linsenmeir remained generally sober after a relationship of several years with opioids. Twelve days that gave them all hope.

"We always thought that she would conquer her illness and earn the life we ​​deserved," wrote a family member. "We believed this until the moment she took her last breath.

"But his addiction followed and stole it again. Although we would have paid the smallest ransom for her, no matter the price in the world, this disease would not let her go until she was gone.

The details come from a heartbreaking obituary that one of Linsenmeir's relatives apparently wrote earlier in the week, paving the way for the devastating downfall of the 30-year-old. Linsenmeir, of Burlington, Vermont, died on October 7 when she was at home with her family – but it is the raw and moving way the obituary describes the circumstances that led to her death. touched many others.

"Madelyn was suffering from addiction and for years we feared that her addiction would claim her life," said Obit. "We are grateful that when she died, she was safe and was with her family."

[Why this father didn’t hide his daughter’s heroin overdose in her obituary]

According to Linsenmeir's obituary, family members wanted to tell his story so that those who suffer from addiction know that "every breath is a new beginning" and to encourage those "who read this with judgment" to understand that "this Is not a choice. or a weakness. "

The story describes a young woman who enjoyed swimming, skiing and snowboarding. She said that she had "such a beautiful voice that she stops people on the street" – a voice that took her around the world – and at 16, she and her parents were moved from Vermont to Florida to attend a school art party.

It was there, however, his life began to collapse.

The obituary stated that Linsenmeir had tried OxyContin for an evening in high school, triggering "a relationship with opiates that would dominate the rest of his life".

"It is impossible to capture a person in an obituary, especially a person whose adult life was largely defined by drug addiction," reads the book. "For some, Maddie was only a junkie. When they noticed her addiction, they stopped seeing her. And what a loss for them. Because Maddie was hilarious, warm, fearless and resilient. She could and wanted to talk to anyone, and when you were in her company, you wanted to stay.

"In a system that seems to be hardened against drug addicts and is failing every day, it is bonding with friends and delighting cops, social workers, public advocates, and doctors, who are looking for it. defended until the end. She was adored as a daughter, sister, niece, cousin, friend and mother, and to be loved by Madelyn was an amazing gift. "

The Washington Post could not immediately join the family.

After the publication of Linsenmeir's obituary – attracting more and more media attention – a police chief in his city said he had "a problem."

"The problem is that his obituary is much better than the one we deserve," Burlington, Vermont chief Brandon del Pozo said on Facebook on Wednesday, according to the Burlington Free Press.

"Why did it take a bereaved parent with a good literary sense to get people to pay attention for a moment and shed a tear when nearly a quarter of a million people are already dead in the same way as Maddie while the epidemic was developing?

Del Pozo said that many others, like Linsenmeir, had died as a result of opioid addiction.

"Maddie is gone. She can not feel your grief, "he wrote. "But the others are the following. Some are not beautiful. Others do not look like you. Some are like Maddie's twins and also have young children. They are all human beings and they need our help. Go. Get to work. We still have to gain the feelings inspired by his obituary. We should have felt them years ago.

[An addict wanted her story told. So her mother did — in an obituary.]

Opioids, including fentanyl, heroin, and other painkillers, are the leading sources of overdose deaths in the United States, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of opioid deaths has continued to increase, with more than 42,000 deaths reported across the country in 2016, according to the latest figures released by the agency.

In Vermont, opioid-related deaths increased by 5% between 2016 and 2017. Specifically, fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, caused 67 deaths in the state, compared to 49 the previous year, according to data from the Vermont Department of Health.

According to Linsenmeir's obituary, Linsenmeir began to change her life when her son was born in 2014 because she wanted to be a good mother.

"Maddie has tried harder and more relentlessly to stay sober than we have ever seen anyone try anything," obituary said. But finally, Linsenmeir relapsed and lost custody, an "unbearable" loss for the young mother.

"In the last two years in particular, her illness has brought her to places of incredible darkness, and this darkening of herself, every unnameable thing that was happening to her and every horrible thing that happened to her. She was committing in the name of her illness increased her pain and shame, he says.

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