Please Meet my Son

My son, Mikael, died on November 27, 2022. He was 31 years old and was struggling with the disease of addiction. He died from an overdose of fentanyl and our lives went from the Before into the After in the blink of an eye.

The thing is though, if I were introducing my son to you, this is not even close to the first thing I would want to tell you about him. If I were introducing Mikael, I would say, “This is my son Mikael. He is the funniest, kindest, most caring, curious, passionate person I know.”

If I were introducing Mikael, I would tell you that he makes me laugh loud and hard with his impersonations, jokes, comments and antics. I would tell you how much joy he brings to my day just by walking into the room. I would tell you how passionate he is about learning new things and that he is constantly researching information and new knowledge. I would definitely tell you how accepting he is of others and how much he encourages others in their lives. He looks out for the underdog and doesn’t judge people. I would want you to know how his laughter and presence filled the room and how he just loved to get to know other people and was so genuinely interested in their stories.

And yes, I would also want you to know that Mikael was fighting the disease of addiction. He would want you to know that too. He was so honest about the battle he was in, a battle for his life. I would want you to know how hard he fought to stay clean and sober; that he picked himself up after a relapse and detoxed and started his 12-step program again and worked so hard to grow in his relationship with God and with himself. I would tell you how proud I am to be his mom and how broken and shattered my heart is not to have him here with us. I would tell you that I know the night he died, God gathered him in his hands and healed him and brought him home. I would tell you that I miss him with every fiber of my being and every breath from my body.

If I were introducing my son Mikael to you, this is what I would have told you.