Tinley Park Mom Gives Back After Son Dies From Opioid Overdose

TINLEY PARK, IL - It's an alarming number. On average, 130 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For one mother, that stat hits too close to home.

In an interview with NBC Chicago, Pam Stivey of Tinley Park admitted to losing her son, Michael Aaron Mitchell, to an opioid overdose last year. An aspiring singer, he was just 26-years-old. His mother, however, refuses to let her son's death be in vain.

On Thanksgiving, she served home-cooked meals to the community from a vacant lot in Englewood while also educating the public on the dangers of opioid addiction. She said she hopes to turn a negative into a positive.

"Last year for Thanksgiving, we were too grief stricken to have dinner without Michael. So my daughter and I decided to take it to the people, and that’s where it all started," she told the TV station.

According to the Chicago Urban League, data from the Illinois Department of Public Health show that all opioid deaths, which include heroin and pain pills, in Illinois more than doubled among African Americans (132% increase) from 2013 to 2016, rising faster than for any other racial group during that period.

A report by the league also found that Chicago has experienced an extreme increase in fatal opioid overdoses in just one year– an increase of nearly 75%. For Spivey, she hopes to do her part to help lower those statistics.

"If I can extend myself, and keep Michael’s memory alive and keep his spirit going and make a difference and help somebody else, then that’s my mission now. And I will do it until I see my son again," Stivey told the TV station.

Watch the full story at NBC Chicago here.