Families Affected By Addiction Create Anti-Overdose Campaign In Tulsa

Families who have lost loved ones to drug overdoses are starting a new campaign to fight addiction.

The group "Families Supporting Families" now has its first billboard and it's near 71st and HWY 1-69.

There will be ten of these digital billboards going up around Tulsa and with ten new faces featured each month; the faces of someone's daughter or son who died from a drug overdose.

Parents hope it'll prevent other parents from experiencing their heartbreak.

"One part that kills me is when my wife wakes up in the middle of the night screaming for Gavin," said Chris Pritchard, Families Supporting Families.

Nothing could prepare Gavin's parents for the moment their son's face flashed across the billboard.

"You know how hard it is for me to look at him up there? That breaks my heart. That's my baby. But he has to be up there. He has to not of died in vain. we have to save somebody," said Delana Pritchard, Families Supporting Families.

"In one instance, it made my heart feel really good that somebody is going to see that and get something from that. But from the other side of it is, I don't want him to have to be up there," said Chris.

They said they didn't know about the dangers of fentanyl and how deadly one small dose can be or how easy it is to come by.

The Pritchard's said dealers use social media apps like Snapchat because it disappears quickly after the transaction.

"It's gaining faster than the knowledge of it is and I hate that. We go to forums and there's empty seats everywhere and it drives me crazy. Parents need to be involved; student council needs to be involved. Coaches need to have their students there," said Chris.

"We're playing Russian Roulette right now with our children," said Delana.

Gavin was 24, almost 25 when he died from a drug overdose last year.

"He tried really hard and that breaks my heart more than anything. I didn't understand the struggle that he had with addiction or how hard it was going to be for him. In my mind it was straighten up man. Get it together. You can do this," said Chris. "We didn't know anything about addiction and how it changed your focus and how it changed your mindset until we seen it change such a good individual that really wanted to be good."

He'd been clean for a while and had just gotten engaged.

They said addition doesn't discriminate and Gavin loved large and gave the best hugs.

He was a helper, enjoyed cleaning, loved kids, was fun and was a joy to be around.

"He was just excited about life. He was so excited, but he had a trigger," said Delana.

"That one mistake killed him. That one mistake killed him," said Chris.

Families Supporting Families said it welcomes anyone who has lost a loved one to a drug overdose and is actively working to educate schools and parents.

Click here for more information about Families Supporting Families.