NASHVILLE, TN — The personal impact and destruction caused by drug addiction has affected every segment and community in this nation. Former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry is just another among millions whose families have been devastated by drug addiction. She’s hoping now that telling her story will help others to better handle the pain and also erase the notion that there’s a stigma attached to addicts. It’s been two years since her 22-year-old son Max overdosed. Barry has been very candid in discussing his death, and she’ll be a keynote speaker Saturday along with Dr. Stephen Lloyd at the International Overdose Awareness Day Rally. The event is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Nashville Recovery Center and will feature musical performances, along with a free lunch. Participants are invited to create a special memorial wall with a personalized message of hope and remembrance.
“Oh, I miss my child. Every day there is something that will touch my heart, will remind me about Max,” Barry told WKRN-2 during an interview this week. When viewing a photo of her son holding hands with his father and another children Barry has poignant memories. “He’s probably four, and I think about Max as this child. He was always reaching out to someone else to bring them along,” she recalled. “Max’s life was rich and full, and yes, it should have been longer, but I don’t want his death to define his life,” she added. “Max was hanging with some of his friends and it was a beautiful night in Colorado,” she said of the night that her son overdosed. The Barry family buried him July 29, 2017.
Barry said her son had been prescribed Xanax before, but after fighting addiction had completed a stint in rehab only a year before his death. “Max had done great,” she said. “He went back to college, he finished his senior year, he graduated, and we went out, we celebrated with him.” She also acknowledged that they had considered that her son had beaten the problem. “That one-year mark for people who are in recovery, it’s really critical, because they think I beat this. I got this. It’s OK,” Barry continued, adding that her son also said this often. “Don’t worry Mom, I got this, and yeah he didn’t,” Barry recalled.
In reliving the night of his overdose, Barry credited the first responders for doing their best. “The first responders were there fast, but it didn’t matter. Max was dead. They didn’t even transport him. So, they didn’t take him to the hospital, they took him to the morgue.” A combination of Xanax, hydrocodone, methadone, and cocaine was responsible for his death.
“When Max died what was in his system was mostly prescription drugs, and the one thing I do know is that Max did not have a prescription at that time for any of those drugs, but somebody did,” Barry said.
Since his passing, Barry spends much of her time serving as an advocate for policy changes regarding prescription drugs and speaking out about the disease. “My hope is that if I can tell our story, and Max’s story, that we might help another family so that they don’t have to end where we ended,” she continued,
“I’m never going to have grandchildren because my son is dead and it’s those moments, those flashes of what might have been that break my heart,” she concluded.
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