Dylan was 8 the first time he drank alcohol. He started using drugs in middle school.
Dylan struggled with addiction for most of his life.
When he died from an overdose at the age of 31 on Sept. 2, 2023, his family thought he was clean and sober. And he had been. But he relapsed during the last three weeks of his life.
September was National Addiction Recovery and Sept. 21 was National Opioid Awareness Day.
Dylan’s mom, Laura Sampson, who is a nurse at LMH Health, wants to share Dylan’s story and her family’s story in the hopes it will help others who may be dealing with addiction.
Laura met Dr. Nana Dadson, Bert Nash Center Chief Medical Officer, following a panel discussion about addiction and recovery in May at the Lawrence Public Library. Dadson had been one of the panelists at the Bert Nash Center event.
“I met Laura at the end of the discussion. She told me her son had died. It brought me to tears,” Dadson said. “She said she wanted to do something to bring awareness to opioid use disorders. I really appreciated that.”
That’s why Sampson wanted to share her son’s story — to bring awareness. It is not only Dylan’s story, but it is also her family’s story.
“Addiction isn’t just about the addict,” Sampson said. “It’s about the whole family. I hope our story will help other families.”
Addiction often isn’t talked about because there can be a lot of shame associated with it.
“There shouldn’t be any stigma,” Sampson said. “You shouldn’t have to hide it and keep it a big secret. You should be able to talk about it.”
Talking with someone about addiction is an important step. There is help available in the Lawrence community. Resources include DCCCA, First Step at Lakeview, Heartland Regional Alcohol & Drug Assessment Center, Oxford House, as well as the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center and the Treatment & Recovery Center of Douglas County, which opened in April 2023.
The TRC is available to help someone struggling with relapsing.
“We can immediately engage them with a therapist and come up with a plan for next steps, including admission, assessment and treatment referrals or connections to outpatient support groups,” said Bri Harmon-Moore, TRC director.
The Bert Nash Center has a dual diagnosis (mental health/substance use) outpatient program for adolescents. The program began this year and is currently taking referrals. It's the only program of its kind in Lawrence.
“We recognize the need for services to youth and adolescents that address drug and alcohol use, and that can support recovery,” said Annas Boyer, the Bert Nash Center’s Director of Youth Community Services. “We're excited to be part of the solution and we plan to continue to adapt and expand these types of services for youth in Lawrence and Douglas County.”
In 2022, the Bert Nash Center hired Ashley Countryman as its first-ever director of Addiction Services. Countryman has worked in addiction services since college, including 14 years with DCCCA, where she was clinical coordinator, before coming to the Bert Nash Center.
“Addiction work is in my blood, I love it,” Countryman said. “Working with people who are so resilient, helping them reach their goals, getting their life back on track as they see it. It’s very rewarding work. I always feel honored to be part of someone’s journey.”
Dylan’s journey included trips to out-of-town facilities in Kansas City and Topeka, as well as Iowa. He seemed to have his life on track before relapsing three weeks before he died. Dylan was attending Washburn University and working toward earning his social work degree and he was working at the Topeka Rescue Mission. His family was unaware he had relapsed.
“At some point during those three weeks he started drinking,” his mom said. “One of his friends he used to use with told me that once he started drinking, everything else was fair game.”
A few days before Dylan died, his mom received a FaceTime call from him at 4 in the morning, which she thought was odd. That was the last contact she had with her son.
“I think he was probably high on meth, because they’ll stay awake for days and then crash,” Sampson said.
Three days later, Sampson received another phone call, this time from Dylan’s girlfriend, who was hysterical, saying he had overdosed.
It wasn’t the first time Sampson had been to the hospital when Dylan had overdosed. This time was different. When Sampson arrived at the hospital in Topeka, where Dylan was living, she was taken into a conference room.
“I’m a nurse, I know when they take you into a conference room, it’s not good,” Sampson said.
When told that Dylan had died, Sampson ran down the hall and into the room where Dylan was and started doing CPR on him, before security stopped her.
Dylan was gone.
That was a little more than a year ago. Dylan had so many positive things happening in his life, but for whatever reason he let his guard down, his mom said. And once he started drinking it opened the door to doing drugs again.
“Addiction is seen as they’re either using or they’re not. Rather than a disease that you have to treat for the rest of your life. People need to understand that,” Sampson said. “You don’t choose to be an addict, just like you don’t choose to have anxiety, which Dylan had since he was a kid.”
Sampson said it is important to get information about addiction and addiction services out to parents and youth and let them know help is available.
The Bert Nash Center’s plan to build a Youth Recovery Center, which would be like the Treatment & Recovery Center, but for youth ages 6-17. The projected opening for the Youth Recovery Center (YRC) is 2027. The facility will be located at 3500 Clinton Place.
Sampson said the availability of something like the Youth Recovery Center would have been helpful for Dylan.
“It will definitely be a benefit to finally have those services here in Lawrence,” Sampson said of the YRC. “Through Dylan’s entire journey, we always had to go to Kansas City or Topeka. So, it would be helpful to offer that kind of help locally.”
Sampson looked at a photo on her phone. It was taken Aug. 9, 2023, less than a month before Dylan died. It was taken at Dylan’s sister’s graduation from nursing school. It was the last day the family was all together.
“I would often tell people I was addicted to the addict, if that makes sense,” Sampson said “When Dylan was doing good, I was doing good. When he was doing bad, I was stressed out. It not only affected me, but it affected my husband and our other children. Addiction isn’t just all about the addict. It’s about the whole family.”
That’s why Sampson wants to speak out, so other families won’t have to go through what hers did.
“Education is important,” she said. “And finding a way of preventing others from going down the road Dylan did.”