Heroin overdoses hit Waterford families hard

WATERFORD, Mich. – Multiple lives are gone and loved ones left behind say a drug is to blame.

Several small Oakland County communities have been hit hard by heroin overdoses this year and it seems the problem is only getting worse.

Thursday night the parents of 24 children shared how the drug has devastated their families.

Dolores Farrell's grandson, Kyle Moshier, died in October after overdosing on heroin.

"He went into the bedroom," Farrell said. "I found him. I knew he had done something because the needle was right next to him on the bed. I called 911. There was nothing they could do."

Many families took to Facebook in the group called "Heroin epidemic" in Waterford. That's where Pamela Hoffmaster got her statistics -- by simply putting the faces with the losses.

"I said, 'Who else has statistics?' It hit me -- the families. That's the real statistics," Hoffmaster said. "We've lost 21 in the past 17 months."

The social media forum brought all of the families together. There was no shame, no judging, but hope that the young lives lost can help start a conversation about a deadly disease called addiction.