MESSAGE FROM THE D2L PRESIDENT

My son's story of drug use doesn't begin with any known medical condition or sports injury that would start him off on prescription pills and then progress from there.  It started with Ryan never really feeling comfortable in his own skin and never feeling like he quite fit in. 

For as long as I can remember, Ryan, was a just happy, considerate, loving little boy.  Even though he was an only child, we lived close by to all of his grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins so there was certainly never a shortage of family who loved him in his life.  

Throughout grade school, Ryan played a few different sports but his real passion was for video games and playing XBox Live was how he spent most of his time up until his mid-teens.  Even though Ryan played online with other kids, there was no real human interaction so at age 16, when he finally started hanging out after school with a few friends in the neighborhood, I was so excited for him.  What I didn't know is that it would be this very moment in time that would set Ryan up for how the rest of his life would ultimately play out.  

Ryan's late teen years were typical, he started driving, he graduated from Sachem East High School, Class of 2015, and enrolled in Suffolk Community College to study child psychology.  He also had a great job working in the gaming department at Best Buy, so on the surface, all seemed right in the world.

Although, not the case for everyone, but certainly for Ryan, his marijuana use that started at age 16 was definitely a gateway drug for all of the other drugs Ryan would ultimately go on to use such as crack, cocaine, Xanax, heroin, the list goes on.  Ryan hated himself for the ugly turn his life had taken, and after almost giving up on his life altogether, Ryan tried very hard to get a handle on his addiction.  He went into drug rehab. in Arizona for 3 months and then onto sober living from there.  It was a constant battle for Ryan to stay out of his own head and fight the demons that kept telling him to get high which is what the disease of addiction does to an addict.

Ryan was in AZ for just 9 months trying to assemble a new sober life for himself.  He even decided that when he was ready to go back to college, he was changing his major from child psychology to drug & alcohol addiction counseling to help others who struggled just like him.  

Unfortunately, even though Ryan was on the road to recovery, the damage was already done.  Ryan passed away, a little over 3 months clean and sober, in his sleep as a result of an enlarged heart  from his prior drug use.  

Knowing my fierce determination to keep Ryan's memory alive as well as my dedication to Dying to Live's mission of addiction recovery and awareness, shortly after Ryan's passing in 2018, the founder of D2L, Laura Soviero, named me to the board of directors.  In September of 2020, Laura stepped back from her role as President of the foundation and I am now acting President of Dying to Live.  I am honored to be a part of this amazing Foundation and for the opportunity to carry out so much good through so much pain.

To our son Ryan, we will never learn how to stop missing you, but we will learn to live our lives while missing you - Love Mom & Dad 

We Love You To The Moon & Back! ❤ #TeamRyan; 😇🌵💙