Black Balloon Day brings awareness to overdose deaths
PHILADELPHIA - Black Balloon Day was established four years ago as the opioid crisis claimed thousands of lives across the country and left thousands of others struggling.
Mark Werner, 32, a recovering drug addict, spent his day delivering black balloons. He’s been sober for seven years and wants people to know about Black Balloon Day.
"If a little bit of awareness is going to do that then dropping off balloons is the least I could do. I would do it every day if I can," Werner said.
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Eileen Katz holds a black balloon. Her teenage son struggled with addiction, moving from pot to much harder drugs. He finally got sober after treatment, but she knows other families whose children didn’t survive.
"So many other families have lost young men and young women and older adults to this horrible disease of addiction," she explained.
With drug overdose the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, families who’ve been through it say the Black Balloon Day means a lot.
Kathy DiCesare’s adult daughter is recovering from heroin addiction.
"It was bad, bad when I could’ve lost her. I was always waiting for that phone call in the middle of the night as every other parent does," she explained.
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