A Light Gone Too Soon: Honoring My Baby Brother, Jason.

On 5:30 PM on Friday, January 24th, a great loss and tragedy happened with our family. My only, and younger brother, was found in his apartment by our mother - he had died of an overdose. The cause of his death is the cause of so many others in this opioid crisis: fentanyl. Jason was 31 years old, 5 years younger than me. And now he will be forever 31.

Our beautiful brother and son, was warm, kind, and judged no one. He also struggled with borderline personality disorder, but was also incredibly intelligent and it led to challenges to fit "in". He wanted so badly to become better - with several journal entries from the past few years having "get sober" as his goal. Jason was a talented poet and musician, and seemed beyond his time.

The day that ended his life, we were told by those he talked to that he was in an amazing mood. Friends who spoke with him shared he was "typical Jason, happy and talkative" and excited to be in a new apartment as he was interviewing for a new position next week. Our mother had seen him the day before. He just made one wrong decision that ended his life. We are comforted he was happy, and likely died quickly - but his loss is a hole in our lives.

Because his addiction had become increasingly worse over the course of the last two years, depleted his savings. This was the new chapter he wanted to start 2025 - but it wasn't meant to be. This has left a financial burden on my mother and our family. I am raising money to simply cover the costs of this death and funeral, because no one should have to pay to bury their own child; your child is not meant to die before you.

Losing Jason is the first big loss of a person close to me in my life, and I will share the experiences of grief if it helps anyone out there. Addiction is an illness, and leads to the number one cause of death at this time, overdose.

Though we may be a statistic, I refuse to have this experience change what Jason would have wanted; to continue to be open, kind, and never to judge others. If you knew him, you know he would always make you feel seen no matter your experience - and I hope we all embody that in his passing.

Any extra support beyond these costs will be donated to TIPS, or Trauma Intervention Program NW; which is a volunteer group that provides emotional first aid to survivors of tragedy in order to ease their immediate suffering. They were there when my mother found my brother, and were amazing and kind and present.

Jason, we miss you.