Heartbroken Dad Writes ‘Honest’ Obituary For Daughter Who Overdosed

Molly Parks, 24, the daughter of Tom Parks, was found in the restroom at her workplace, dead, with a needle still stuck in her arm. The young woman had died of a heroin overdose, and her heartbroken father wrote a brutally honest obituary in honor of his child, hoping to help others who may be currently fighting battles similar to those of Molly.

Although his daughter had battled drug addiction for years, Parks said that Molly had recently exhibited signs that she was turning her life around. After three rounds of rehabilitation last year, the young woman had gotten a job delivering pizzas. She was working more than 50 hours a week, Parks says, and certainly appeared to be getting her life in order.

“She was here last Monday and she looked great,” her dad said. “But it’s so hard, of course, and she got sucked back in.”

After her death, Parks initially posted an honest, open message about his daughter, her struggles, and her death on Facebook.

“I’m not looking for sympathy but I want people to know that our lives are made up of the choices we make and for some death is a matter of choice too. My daughter Molly Parks made many good choices in her too short life and she made some bad choices. She tried to fight addiction in her own way and last night her fight came to an end in a bathroom of a restaurant with a needle of heroin. Her whole family tried to help her win the battle but we couldn’t show her a way that could cure her addiction. We will always love her and miss her. If you have a friend or a relative who is fighting the fight against addiction please do everything you can to be supportive. Maybe for your loved one it’ll help. Sadly for ours it didn’t. I hope my daughter can now find the peace that she looked for here on earth.”

After some reflection, Parks then decided to write an obituary for his daughter Molly along the same lines — open, honest, but sympathetic, with the hopes that his message may reach even just one person.

“Even if one person reads that and says, ‘Oh my God, that can be me,’ and stops — if we could save one life — we could be happy. That would mean that Molly didn’t die in vain,” Parks explained.

Parks wanted people to know what sort of person Molly was in life, writing that his daughter “enjoyed theater, fashion, reading — especially Harry Potter, and will always be remembered for fearless personality and her trademark red lipstick.”

But he ended his daughter’s obituary with a heartbreaking plea.

“If you have any loved ones who are fighting addiction, Molly’s family asks that you do everything possible to be supportive, and guide them to rehabilitation before it is too late.”

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, heroin usage has been on the rise since 2007, stating that the “unacceptably high” usage of heroin is a trend “driven largely by young adults aged 18–25 among whom there have been the greatest increases.”

Tom Parks is not the first family member whose devastation and grief over losing a family member to addiction encouraged him to raise awareness about the dangers of drugs. Click here to read about another family whose heartbreaking loss motivated them to raise awareness, as well.

[Image via Facebook]