A Nephew will never get to know his Uncle.

James Matthew Kilgore was a son, brother, friend, and uncle. His smile could light up a room. It seemed that everyone he met became a friend instantly. James had a sense of humor that could make the most serious person burst out laughing. Most importantly, James wanted to know how YOU were doing as a person.

However, James also suffered from the disease, opioid use disorder, for 12 years. He was first introduced to opioids during a wisdom tooth extraction in high school. He told his mom he liked the feeling of his pain medication. Later, after high school, a classmate turned drug dealer introduced James to OxyContin. The addictive nature of OxyContin was not understood by many people at the time. 

On the evening of December 9, 2018, many lives changed forever.

Henry’s Uncle, James Kilgore, passed away and became yet another statistic of the never-ending opioid crisis plaguing our country. James’ younger brother and founder of Henry’s Uncle, Erik, found James’ lifeless body in his condo that fateful night, constantly yelling at his brother to wake up, even though James’ body was slumped over between his couch and coffee table. His face, black and blue. His body frigid cold. His eyes shut closed. No pulse. 

Erik was devastated that his then 8-month old son, Henry, would not be able to grow up with his Uncle, who was going to be the fun uncle.

A pill laced with fentanyl took all of that away. 

After James’ death, his family did not understand why James relapsed. Twelve years ago, after James first got hooked on Oxycontin, he told his parents that he was physically addicted, and with his parents support, he went through a 90-day methadone program. He said he never wanted to go through withdrawals again. That withdrawals were the worst thing he had ever experienced. That he hated drugs and the people who exposed him to this addictive substance.

We had thought we had dodged a bullet and his use was behind him. We were naive and uneducated about the disease. Due to the shame and embarrassment that James felt from his disease, we protected James’ wish, and kept his disease quiet and told no one. His younger brother, Erik, also grappled with the question of how did he not know his brother was using again? They shared the same office while running their family business.

Devastated by his death, we began to research about opioid addiction and came to understand what this disease is about: