Courage to Speak Foundation

Parents Speak on Child Substance Abuse and Overdose Death Parents Ginger and Larry Katz speak on their child's substance abuse and overdose death. They share their thoughts and feelings about their son Ian’s life and his struggle with drugs. They tell not only of their feelings, but of the symptoms of heroin abuse that they saw. Photo by: Katherine Taylor for The New York Times Ginger’s account of Ian’s struggle with substance abuse: "I don't say I wish I'd done this or that differently. What I say is that I did the best that I could [...]

Ians’ Story On September 10, 1996, I awoke to every mother’s nightmare. I found my 20–year–old son Ian dead in his bed of an accidental heroin overdose. Ian James Eaccarino was a promising college student with everything to live for. He was bright, athletic, popular, and handsome. He was dearly loved by his family and by his many friends. Drugs destroyed his life. Ian started using tobacco and marijuana in the eighth grade. He was in denial about the problem, minimizing it as so many young people do. I was unaware that he was using drugs, thinking the changes were [...]

CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE®: The dark-green convertible couch where twenty-year-old Ian Eaccarino died of a heroin and valium overdose eighteen years ago is a silent presence in the basement studio that was his bedroom. His sister Candace, who has Down Syndrome, sleeps on it every Tuesday night when she visits from the group home where she lives in Fairfield, CT. Every week, she puts its cushions on the floor, covers them with a blanket and makes a bed for her brother. "Ian comes down from the clouds," she insists, "and sleeps there." At the other end of the room, Ian's [...]