Tina Louden sat in her home, holding an urn that contained her daughter¡¯s remains. It would have been her daughter¡¯s 28th birthday on August 15, had she not fallen prey to heroin.
Reuters/Represenatational image
The light pink-coloured urn has her daughter¡¯s name inscribed, ¡®Ashley N Shannon¡¯. Below her name are mentioned the dates of her birth and death ¨C August 15, 1988 to July 5, 2013. It has been three years since Tina lost her daughter to drugs.
In an agonising Facebook post, Tina sent out a message to her daughter¡¯s drug dealer and it has gone viral since it was uploaded last week, with over 251,000 shares till now.
The post begins with a heart wrenching line ¨C ¡°To my daughter¡¯s drug dealer, this is how I spend my daughter¡¯s birthdays now. How do you live with yourself?¡±
¡°Dealers need to be held responsible for selling poison to our children all over the world,¡± Tina said to a parent¡¯s response on her post. The post is flooded with messages from addicts and their families, who say the post has inspired them to seek treatment.
With her heartbreaking yet powerful message, Tina hopes her voice ?would reach as many people as possible, especially drug dealers out there, to make them realize what they are doing to so many families.