Sister's Overdose Death Spurs Man To Walk Across America

WESTFIELD, NJ — It was three years ago when Brett Bramble’s sister Brittany overdosed on heroin leaving behind three young children. Remembering her kind, loving and giving spirit still brings Bramble to tears.

"Brittany Bramble, just turned 28, she was the mother of three boys. She was an incredible mother. It is amazing how much people loved her because she loved everyone," Brett Bramble said. "From the time she was seven-years-old she was always helping the homeless and helping people out anyway she could and it carried through her life... but she suffered with addiction."

To honor her memory and to bring awareness to the opioid epidemic plaguing the country, Bramble, who is 33, is walking more than 2,500 miles from Key West, Florida to Fort Kent, Maine. He is passing through Westfield this week and will host a special walk in the town on Saturday at 9 a.m.

The walk will begin at Bovella’s Pastry Shop at 101 E Broad Street and continue to the Westfield Police Department. Local officials will also be joining the walk. Bramble will end the walk with information on the drug epidemic.

It was March 14, 2015 when everything changed for the Bramble family — when Brittany died from a heroin overdose.

“Our family was blindsided by that,” Bramble said. “We didn’t know how to handle heroin in our family. It wasn’t until after she died that I learned how many people were dying in the country from it. So in my grief I wanted to do something in her honor to see if could prevent this from happening.”

Bramble had also drugs as a teenager and eventually started getting into criminal trouble. That is when he decided to stop. But Brittany had a much harder time. She came to Bramble asking for help.

Bramble said Brittany had a bad back and was prescribed pain medication. That’s what initially started the addiction. Then it escalated into heroin. She overdosed once before in January but survived. The second time she overdosed she wasn’t as lucky.

Two years after her death Bramble decided to take a walk. He started in Delaware and walked clear across the country to San Francisco, California. It was eight months of walking 3,200 miles. And along the way he told anyone he could Brittany’s story in hopes of helping others.

The walk was therapeutic to Bramble so he decided to walk again. Only this time he would walk for a foundation, Freedom to Grow. The nonprofit that works to establish a transitional farm retreat that will help people recover from troubled pasts.

Bramble started his walk on Jan. 27 with another man John Azerolo, 60, who has had friend’s lose children to drug overdose as well. Along on the journey is Bramble’s rescue labrador named Domino.

It has been four months and roughly 1,700 miles since the group took off and they are now in Westfield staying at his aunt’s home on Alden Avenue for a quick break before they head off towards Maine.

Bramble walks with a cart that has Brittany’s photo on the sides and a message about drug overdose. Through his journey, Bramble has been able to talk to anyone he can find and they just open up to him about how drug abuse has touched their lives.

Plus the journey is helping him heal.

“I do feel closer, connected in ways to her in ways that I can’t explain,” Bramble said. “It’s so awesome when something happens to where I am able to provide comfort or hope or inspiration to somebody who needs it. Because I’m doing it for Brittany, it fills that hole just a little bit every time. Being able to honor her legacy and love for the world helps me continue.”

To follow Bramble’s journey or to donate visit brettbramblewalks.com or Facebook or Instagram.

(Images via Brett Bramble: Brett and his sister Brittany.)

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