Pain With A Purpose

Losing Their Son in 2020 Led Kenny and Sarah Hall to Turn Tragedy Into Outreach

By Delores Kuhlwein

It’s easy to recognize multiple carded judge Kenny Hall due to his visibility in the horse industry. But when Kenny and his wife, Sarah, tragically lost their son, Ethan, on 8/24/20 at age 22 to an accidental drug overdose, the Halls became prominent for a very different cause.

“Unfortunately, overdose has become its own epidemic,” Sarah explains, and it’s a widespread problem no one wants to talk about, they discovered. What they experienced and what they learned afterward led them to become part of a group of founders of M-COPE, the Montgomery County Overdose Prevention Endeavor.

Learning from Tragedy

After the devastating loss of Ethan, the Halls first went to GRASP (Grief Recovery After Substance Passing) in October 2020.  “It was so nice to be in a group of people where you could really talk about what you were going through, what you were feeling and what was happening in our son’s case,” Sarah says.  “We could cry and cuss and really talk about our feelings and not worry about the stigma that is associated with a fatal drug overdose.”

She explains, “Other people don’t understand, and it almost always falls back on – ‘why didn’t you do something?’, or ‘How could you let this happen to your child?’  ‘What kind of parent are you anyway?’  ‘How could you NOT know what was going on?’”

Sarah says they kept going back to “We didn’t KNOW.” Ethan was going to two colleges at one time, had straight A’s, worked at the HEB grocery store, and he ate dinner with them every night and helped her at the barn every morning.

And so they learned, inspired by the worst heartbreak a parent can experience.  “I couldn’t save my son, but it was simply because I WASN’T AWARE of what was going on,” Sarah reveals. “I learned a TON after getting Ethan’s phone back from the detectives.  In the investigation we learned that our next door neighbor had been selling Ethan (and many other neighborhood kids) his prescription pain pills for the last 18 months.  We never had a clue, and our next door neighbor was Kenny’s nephew…family.  What a blow when the detectives told us that, and then we saw the proof ourselves on his phone.”

As they became close to the leader of GRASP in Montgomery County, Kathy Posey, they decided they wanted to hold an event to help educate other parents.

“For many of the Grasp group members, their kids started out using prescription pain pills,” explains Sarah. “When/if they can’t get more, they turn to street drugs.  The majority of the pills on the street now is fentanyl.  It’s coming across the border – and the cartels don’t care that they are killing our kids, and yet no one wants to talk about this!” exclaims Sarah.

The Halls asked themselves if what they’d learned they could share with other parents.  “Maybe we could help save even ONE child?”

Pain with a Purpose

“I wanted to do something BIG in my son’s honor…that’s a parent’s fear,  that people will forget about your child and the memories they had with them,” Sarah says. “Helping others is a big part of healing your own heart…you see a little bit of your own story in each person you talk to or help.”

Sarah, Kathy and two other moms also wanted to do more in their own county.  The foursome who became known as “the four moms” invented M-COPE, the Montgomery County Overdose Prevention Endeavor, to spread awareness in their community, and they held their first event in August 2021 on International Overdose Awareness Day, which is recognized all over the world. Sarah encourages others to look up overdoseday.com to see the phenomenal events.

Their first community awareness event in 2021 had 250 attendees. “We were thrilled that many people would attend.  Our second event had over 500 attendees, and the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, spoke at our event!” reveals Sarah, who says they had major TV media coverage in the Houston market.

Their events host several speakers, and one speaker educates attendees in Narcan training.  They also pass out Narcan at events; even though it’s normally $140 a box, they obtain grants to make it free. Their speakers additionally include a Houston-based therapist who discusses how drugs affect a child’s brain development, and a therapist who works with families affected by a loved one’s addiction.

Reaching a National Audience

People who attended the events immediately began to request the group take the event on the road, so M-COPE started a how-to manual for producing an event like theirs, which has resulted in other moms creating similar organizations throughout Texas.

As part of their outreach, Kenny built bases and the entryway signs for the “Texas Memorial Walkway,” a tribute to those who have died from drug overdoses, complete with poster for each person, including a photo, name, date of passing, age, school affiliation, and a brief personalized tribute.

“We have 25 more names to add to the Memorial Walkway…just since August,” Sarah says.

“One of the other Mom’s in M-Cope, Kathy, makes the write ups for the posters.  She sends the pics over to me and I do the graphic work to create each poster.  You get very emotionally vested and it brings back memories – and you know just what these individual’s families are going through – because you are living it yourself every day, too.  We get submissions daily,” she says.  “I’m usually good to make about 10 at time.  Then I just have to stop; my heart gets very heavy – and it’s increasing, not slowing down! Right now the youngest age is 14 – and we have several that are 14!!  I think the oldest is 65.”

As a result, their goals are to continue spreading awareness, and get into high schools to talk to kids and parents. They’re well on their way, recently becoming involved with the 9^th Grade campus for a local high school.

Dogs Matter

Besides prevention, the Halls have decided to impact lives directly through “Dogs Matter,” a program that offers fostering of dogs for owners going through treatment.

“While doing research for our first event with M-COPE, I stumbled across Dogs Matter on the internet,” explains Sarah.  “I thought ‘WOW,’ this is something I really want to be a part of – when I showed the program to Kenny, he thought it was pretty cool, and said he would build kennels for me so we could house multiple dogs.”

So Sarah reached out to see if they had a branch near Houston, and they did not.  “I filled out an application to be a foster, to get the ball rolling.  The idea was that I would start fostering after the event in August…the very next day, they called and said they had a German Shepherd that was being fostered in an apartment complex, and it had to go; management didn’t allow big dogs.  Was there any way I could foster this dog?  Well, it just so happened that Kenny was going to Fort Worth the next day to shoe his daughter’s horses…it was meant to be!  Kenny brought “Raider” home that night.  (And my kennels were built a whole lot sooner!)”

The Halls have now fostered more than 10 dogs for the organization. “They stay for 30, 60, 90 days – whatever amount of time the person needs to be in treatment.  It helps my heart heal knowing I’m a part of helping someone else get better; so many times people won’t seek treatment because they would have to surrender their dog, and many times at this point their dog is all they have left – talk about unconditional love and loyalty!”

She explains seeing that person before treatment and when they are reunited with their dog is what truly matters.  “How hard is it to take care of someone’s dog for 30 or 60 days knowing the difference it can make in someone’s life? To me, it’s a very easy choice.”

The Halls will be visited by a film company in April 2023 to film their story – called Parallel Journeys – to talk about Dogs Matter and what they do (and why).

The Message

The hope on the horizon for the Halls: people are starting to open up and tell their story everywhere they go.  “Kenny has talked to so many people about this, and so many have been touched by it.  No one talks about it until you open up, then it seems almost everyone has had a similar situation,” says Sarah.

The message they’d like readers to come away with: “Please don’t think that it can’t happen to your family!” advises Sarah.  “Have hard conversations with your kids!  Talk about it – don’t assume anything.  With opioids, you can function and no one may never know what’s going on until it’s too late!”

M-COPE’s new campaign deals with the “F” word, aka Fentanyl.  Sarah reveals that one pill can kill.  “If you have young kids with cell phones – monitor them!  All street drugs can be bought on various apps, and right now they are using Telegram.   ( We use Telegram at work!)  Snapchat used to be the popular site, but they have really buckled down on it.”

She says parents should also know what all emojis mean, because they can use them to order drugs, and an entire code exists. ⇒ (See diagram on the right – click to enlarge.)

Lastly, she says if readers know someone struggling, do not hesitate to reach out. “There are resources…don’t ever give up because people can change and rehab CAN work!”

 

For more information on M-COPE, visit: https://mcope.org/, or email Sarah Hall at M-COPE: info.mcope@gmail.com.  For information on Dogs Matter, visit: https://www.dogsmatter2.org/