Parents’ obituary for drug addict daughter goes viral

A obituary written by the parents of a young mother who succumbed to her battle with opioid addiction has been praised around the world for its honesty and compassion.

Madelyn Linsenmeir, of Burlington, Vermont, died on 7 October at the age of 30. Her family describe her as “hilarious, and warm, and fearless, and resilient”, as well as a “born performer” who loved musical theatre and competitive sports.

However, “for years we feared her addiction would claim her life,” her family wrote in the candid tribute published in local newspaper Seven Days.

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When she was 16, the family moved to Florida so Madelyn could attend performing arts school, where she tried OxyContin, a highly addictive opioid painkiller, for the first time at a high school party.

The fateful encounter would ultimately lead to an addiction “that would dominate the rest of her life”, her parents write, describing an agonising pattern of recovery and relapse which would last from Madelyn’s late teens until her untimely death.

Despite trying “harder and more relentlessly to stay sober than we have ever seen anyone try at anything” after the birth of her son Ayden in 2014, Madelyn slipped into addiction once more and lost custody of her son, a loss she found “unbearable”, the obituary says.

After a 12-day period of sobriety at her family’s home over the summer, she relapsed for a final time. “Though we would have paid any ransom to have her back, any price in the world, this disease would not let her go until she was gone,” the obituary reads.

The Linsenmeir family say their motivation for their candid portrayal of Madelyn and her drug battle is to raise awareness of opioid addiction.

According to the government's National Institute on Drug Abuse, an average of 115 Americans die of opioid overdoses every day.

“To some, she was just a junkie,” Madelyn’s family write, before urging: “If you are reading this with judgment, educate yourself about this disease, because that is what it is.”

The obituary went viral after being shared on Twitter by radio presenter Lauren Ober, who called it “the most honest and devastating obituary you will ever read about a person who died from opioid addiction”. The piece has since been retweeted almost 18,000 times.

A memorial service for Madelyn is planned for 12 October. Her family are encouraging well-wishers to send their donations to The Turning Point, a Vermont charity that supports drug addicts in recovery.