A 7-year-old girl was on the bus ride home when she told the bus driver that she wasn't able to wake up her parents earlier that day. Thing is, they weren't asleep at all, they were both dead from a drug overdose.
Drug overdose: It seemed like a regular day
On that fateful day, the little girl woke up, got dressed, and went to school without seemingly showing any problems or distress. However, when she talked to the bus driver about being unable to wake her parents up, that immediately started raising red flags.
Investigators found the bodies of her parents, Christopher Dilly, 26, and Jessica Lally, 25, both dead because of an apparent drug overdose. Inside the home were three other children, a 9-month-old, a 5-year-old, and a 3-year-old.
The little girl's aunt was devastated when she found out about what happened. She also knew about the her sister's drug problem before, and she had tried to get help for the children months ago. She also posted some images on Facebook showing the deplorable state of her sister's home. When her sister found out what she was trying to do, she moved her family to their current home.
Not the first case for that day
Authorities said that the area, Allegheny County, has the highest rates of fatal overdose in the region. They added that the little girl's case wasn't the first overdose that they had responded to on that day.
According to a neighbor, Jordon McCallister, “They were acting normal. No indications. Nothing.” Other neighbors also agreed that they didn't notice anything unusual in the home.
The children are temporarily under the care of the Allegheny County Children Youth and Families. Their aunt, Courtney, and their grandmother will be at a hearing, hoping to get custody of the children.
Helping someone recover from addiction
Drug addiction is a serious problem that destroys lives, ruins families, and as seen in the story above, kills people. If you have a family member that's addicted to drugs, they need you now more than ever. They need your compassion, your love, and your persistence to make sure that they can start to understand that they have a problem, and that it needs to be addressed.
It's important to make the person suffering from addiction know that you're not their enemy. Make your intention clear that you want to help them out, and if possible, involve other members of the family or some of his friends to join you in an intervention. The goal is to get them into treatment so that they can get themselves better. They very much need your love and understanding, and a good support group is important in preventing recovering addicts from relapsing.
READ: Accidental overdose sends 160 kids to the ER everyday
Sources: wpxi.com, Washington Post
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