I figured I'll share something I'm going through right now.
I just found out Wednesday night, through one of his acquaintances contacting my mom, that my brother who lived in Cincinnati, OH had died. Unfortunately, there were no ther details and I figured that maybe my brother was out of reach, as he has sometime not paid his phone bill, misplaced his phone, etc. My mom was pretty worried, so I decided to call the local police department to have them check. The police department then told me that I should call the coroner's office first and confirm he was not there before they could do a wellness check. I eventually got through to the coroner's office and they confirmed they had someone with that name and date of birth. My heart just sank. They could not give me any more details since it was after hours.
I called the next day and spoke to the investigator at the scene and he confirmed that it was indeed my brother based on his tattoos, description, identifications, etc. Per the investigator, he died of an accidental drug overdose. He died in his apartment around the 20-21st of April, but was not found until the 24th. He died all alone. I wanted to fly out to Cincinnati and see his body one last time, but they told me that I would not even be able to recognize him due to the decomposition. Not being able to see him one last time kills me. Imagining his dead body in that apartment kills me. Knowing he did not get a chance to contact us before he went also kills me. I knew him well and know he would have liked to have one more chance to talk to me and my mom. He was not the type to commit suicide or anything like that.
I've spent the last couple of days filling out paperwork to get his body cremated and sent to Texas. Also making arrangements to get his belongings sent to us. He was supposed to come visit us in about a couple of months. We never got the chance to see him one last time and the last time I spoke to him was 2-3 weeks ago. My mom spoke with him on the 19th. She is a wreck right now and I'm no better. Thankfully, my wife has helped me with many of the arrangements.
I don't even know how to deal with this. I go from sadness to anger to guilt to numbness. My life will never be the same after losing my only brother. He was 35 years old (6 years younger than me). I remember holding him as a baby, playing with him as a toddler, watching him grow to a boy who wanted to do everything I did. He was a really sweet person. As an adult, drugs destroyed his life. He had finally gotten his college degree a few years ago and was starting to turn his life around only to have this deadly relapse this past couple of years. I never expected this to happen. I should have called him and visited him more often. I'll always have that regret.
Learn from my experience and make sure to talk to your loved ones, kiss them, hug them, as if everyday is their last.
I just found out Wednesday night, through one of his acquaintances contacting my mom, that my brother who lived in Cincinnati, OH had died. Unfortunately, there were no ther details and I figured that maybe my brother was out of reach, as he has sometime not paid his phone bill, misplaced his phone, etc. My mom was pretty worried, so I decided to call the local police department to have them check. The police department then told me that I should call the coroner's office first and confirm he was not there before they could do a wellness check. I eventually got through to the coroner's office and they confirmed they had someone with that name and date of birth. My heart just sank. They could not give me any more details since it was after hours.
I called the next day and spoke to the investigator at the scene and he confirmed that it was indeed my brother based on his tattoos, description, identifications, etc. Per the investigator, he died of an accidental drug overdose. He died in his apartment around the 20-21st of April, but was not found until the 24th. He died all alone. I wanted to fly out to Cincinnati and see his body one last time, but they told me that I would not even be able to recognize him due to the decomposition. Not being able to see him one last time kills me. Imagining his dead body in that apartment kills me. Knowing he did not get a chance to contact us before he went also kills me. I knew him well and know he would have liked to have one more chance to talk to me and my mom. He was not the type to commit suicide or anything like that.
I've spent the last couple of days filling out paperwork to get his body cremated and sent to Texas. Also making arrangements to get his belongings sent to us. He was supposed to come visit us in about a couple of months. We never got the chance to see him one last time and the last time I spoke to him was 2-3 weeks ago. My mom spoke with him on the 19th. She is a wreck right now and I'm no better. Thankfully, my wife has helped me with many of the arrangements.
I don't even know how to deal with this. I go from sadness to anger to guilt to numbness. My life will never be the same after losing my only brother. He was 35 years old (6 years younger than me). I remember holding him as a baby, playing with him as a toddler, watching him grow to a boy who wanted to do everything I did. He was a really sweet person. As an adult, drugs destroyed his life. He had finally gotten his college degree a few years ago and was starting to turn his life around only to have this deadly relapse this past couple of years. I never expected this to happen. I should have called him and visited him more often. I'll always have that regret.
Learn from my experience and make sure to talk to your loved ones, kiss them, hug them, as if everyday is their last.
