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Dad tells Marietta audience the story of son’s addiction, death

PEYTON NEELY The Marietta Times Wayne Campbell, president of Tyler's Light, gives a presentation in Marietta High School's auditorium on Wednesday evening.

Who knew a Division I star football player like Tyler Campbell would ever fall victim to an accidental overdose?

Not his parents, Wayne and Christy Campbell, who lost Tyler in July 2011 to an overdose of heroin and now travel across the U.S. sharing Tyler’s story to make communities aware of the dangers drugs can cause to anyone. Wayne Campbell gave a presentation on Wednesday evening in the Marietta High School auditorium about his son’s life and death.

Tyler was a 2007 graduate of Pickerington High School North, outside of Columbus, where he excelled in sports and academics. He eventually followed his dream of playing football in college on a full scholarship at the University of Akron.

“We really weren’t prepared for what happened,” said his father, Wayne.

In the wake of a shoulder surgery following a football injury, Tyler became addicted to opiate pain medication and eventually moved on to heroin. He went through four rehabilitation centers and on July 21, 2011, he completed inpatient rehab and was moved to outpatient. Less than 24 hours after he returned home, Tyler overdosed and died.

“We had no idea how to handle this,” said Wayne. “Now we want to spread awareness and let other know it can happen to anyone.”

Among young people ages 16 to 23, one in five have abused prescription pain pills, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

“The number of people we lose to accidental overdoses has nearly doubled since we lost Tyler,” said Wayne.

Wayne has traveled to 10 different states and a total of 200 schools, spreading the story of Tyler through his nonprofit organization called Tyler’s Light.

“Parents really are the least educated of the group and we just want to change the philosophy of our students,” said Wayne, whose motto for Tyler’s Light has been “Speak Up” since it was founded in 2012.

Wayne said he just wants the public to speak up about anyone going the wrong way, which is his motivation behind Tyler’s Light.

Across Ohio, someone died from a drug overdose every two hours and 52 minutes on average all year long in 2015, an average of eight per day, according to NIDA.

Marietta resident, Brad Beihl, 61, who attended Wednesday’s presentation, said he has a family member going through the same thing Tyler did, except there’s still hope for him.

“The community has no idea what’s going on,” he said. “People have the idea it will never touch them until it does or it’s too late.”

Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks attended to hear Wayne speak as well.

“We can’t arrest our way out of the issue we have in the county,” he said. “Parents need to educate their kids to stay away at an early age.”

Washington County Common Pleas Judge Ed Lane also attended the Tyler’s Light presentation.

“It’s all about prevention,” he said. “I hate to compare it to cigarettes but they did all this campaigning and the number significantly decreased in users. We just aren’t up to speed on prevention.”

NIDA numbers show drug overdoses killed a record 3,050 people in Ohio last year, more than one-third of them from heroin.

“Simply put, the key to fighting addiction lies within the efforts of the community. We must take our communities back through education, awareness and prevention,” said Wayne.

Tyler’s Light will continue to visit schools and communities to spread the story. For more information, visit Facebook, Instagram and Twitter under Tyler’s Light.

At a glance

Top six reasons teens try drugs:

≤ Peer pressure

≤ To escape problems

≤ Appeal

≤ Emotional problems

≤ Curiosity or boredom

≤ Rebellion

Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse

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