‘It could happen to any of them’

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This article was published 28/12/2017 (3065 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Smoke from a smudging stick and the warm breath of friends and family of Jeremy Hobson filled the front yard of the house where the 21-year-old accidentally overdosed and died on the weekend during a ceremony held Thursday.

Jeremy died after taking a pill, which he thought was OxyContin, at a get together with friends and cousins on Saturday night, according to his father Larry Hobson. Hobson said he thinks the pill that killed his son was laced with fentanyl.

Hobson, and nine other community members, including three members from the Bear Clan, gathered in a circle in the front yard of the house where Jeremy died for the smudging.

“I know my son is in heaven, I know he’s with the creator,” said Hobson, during Thursday’s ceremony. “I just want to wish him a safe journey to get to where he’s going and where he needs to be.”

On Christmas Eve, Larry Hobson said he received the worst phone call of his life. He was told his son Jeremy had been found dead.

Jeremy never did drugs, not even marijuana, but was told a pill would “give him a good vibe,” said Hobson, adding he’s always told his kids to avoid the home on Broadway, where Jeremy died, because he’s not a fan of the unsupervised parties that go on inside.

The woman who found Jeremy, who lives in the home, refused to allow the smudging ceremony to happen inside the home, where Hobson originally planned to have it.

Four people, including the 21-year-old ironworker apprentice, took the pills that killed Hobson’s youngest son. They were all under the impression it was OxyContin, Hobson said.

“I just don’t think it was OxyContin,” he said.

Fentanyl taken inadvertently

According to Joss Reimer, medical officer of health services for Manitoba Health, fentanyl can be hidden “very easily” in other drugs.

She said most of Canada is experiencing a fentanyl crisis and while lots of people take the drug knowingly, many others take it thinking they’re consuming something else.

Reimer said the best way to be prepared for an overdose is to own a naloxone kit, know how to use it and tell friends when you plan to use drugs so they can check up on you.

Fentanyl can be found in pill form and powder form — and it can be mixed into other drugs like cocaine and crystal meth in its powder form, according to the Manitoba Health website.

Toxicology and blood tests are in progress to find out what exactly caused the death, but Hobson said the medical examiner told him his son most likely went to sleep and “never woke up because he had so much poison in his body.”

Hobson said it’ll take six weeks to find out the test results.

‘It only takes a minute to end a life’

After taking the drug and passing out on the couch, Hobson said some friends moved Jeremy to the bed. The woman from the house later came home, found Jeremy unresponsive, starting doing CPR and called 911.

The three other people who took the drug with Jeremy all went to the hospital after he was found dead, Hobson said, but they are all OK.

“Jeremy’s gone now but I just want to be able to get a strong message out here,” he said. “All these kids out there trying drugs, it could happen to any of them and none of their parents ever want to get the call I received.”

He said people need to be cautious of what they and their families are doing.

“It only takes one mistake to end a life and the impact and the ripple effect is unbelievable — it’s so hurtful and painful,” he said. “But you know, we’ll get through it.”

Hobson said the family has become very close after struggling with him being incarcerated for some time.

“We’re going to try to live a better life and I’m going to try to be a better influence on my children,” he said.

“All these kids out there trying drugs, it could happen to any of them and none of their parents ever want to get the call I received.”

Hobson prays the creator takes care of his son because he was a good boy who was lovable, outgoing, kind, generous and died too young. He was the youngest boy of Hobson’s eight children, of which six are still alive.

Dillon Hobson, Jeremy’s older brother, said Jeremy will be joining his grandmother and another older brother, who died by suicide two years ago, in the spirit world.

“My brother meant the world to me, and I’m going to miss him very much,” he said, adding that the ceremony was all for Jeremy.

‘You think it won’t happen to your family’

The Bear Clan’s executive director, James Favel, said a loss like Jeremy’s is always tragic, compounded by the fact that he was so young.

“As a community, we have to come together and just focus on healing now and moving forward in a good way,” said Favel. “We’ll all get through this and we learn from our mistakes, we move forward.”

The ceremony came to a close with Brittany Murdoch, one of Jeremy’s sisters, handing tobacco to the community members, who then sprinkled the pieces across the front yard to remember Jeremy.

A wake will take place Friday and Jeremy’s funeral is scheduled for Saturday.

“You always hear stuff, but you think it won’t happen to your family — until it really happens and then you realize how precious life is,” said Taylor Hobson, one of Jeremy’s other sisters.

“Don’t take life for granted. Love your family and keep them close.”

Larry Hobson said he’ll be keeping both his family and reminders of Jeremy close. He’s going to wrap the Christmas presents he bought for Jeremy, a Detroit Red Wings sweater and shirts, in plastic and leave them in his closet “forever.”

 

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca