Addicts, Families Share Struggle at Take a Stand Drug Awareness Walk

Kari Bjornberg sat in the audience at last year’s Take a Stand Drug Awareness Walk, wishing her son, Michael, could have come to experience the healing and be inspired in his struggle against heroin.

This year, she was a guest speaker who shared her story about Michael’s fight and his death.

“I do not want to stand here as a mother who lost a child to addiction… but no one is immune,” she said, adding addiction is not a conscious choice.

Michael Bjornberg was one of the countless deaths in Lake County last year of heroin overdose.

Take a Stand formed last year to raise awareness of the heroin epidemic in Lake Zurich and Lake County. It held its second Drug Awareness Walk Saturday.

Co-founder Courtney Wells told the crowd of family, friends and supporters they had taken on a new role by attending Saturday’s event.

“Today, you are advocates,” Wells said.

“We are all here for different reasons, but we are fighting the same fight,” co-founder Lindsey Dulian said.

Kari Bjornberg’s son fought the fight against addiction for years. He started smoking marijuana at age 13, she said. His father, too, was a heroin addict who died a few years ago.

Michael was wired to become a drug addict, he did not consciously chose the life of an addict, his mother said. Last year, he was in a drug rehab program and was doing well. Kari Bjornberg wanted to get him a pass to come to the Take a Stand event, but he could not attend.

He did leave treatment and came home. Kari Bjornberg had a feeling things were not well in September and had him take a drug test, which he passed. Two weeks later, he died of an overdose.

There is a sense of stigma for Kari Bjornberg. She also feels the judgment from others, she said. But she wants to tell her son’s story.

“Every time I tell the truth (about his death), I add a name and face to the numbers,” she said.

There were also inspiring stories at Saturday’s rally.

Twenty-three-year-old Connor, who did not disclose his last name, is a Lake Zurich graduate who has been sober for about a year. He used drugs for five years, spending time homeless.

It’s ironic to be speaking, he said, standing on the stage set up at Paulus Park. “I use to shower in that bathroom,” he said, glancing at a nearby bathroom in the park that he used when he was homeless.

“It took a lot for me to get here,” he said.

Connor started drinking then moved onto prescription drugs. His drug use spiraled from there. “Anything you had, I was willing to do,” he said.

It took his parents asking him to leave their home and living on the streets for him to clean up his life.

“I’m grateful to be sober today,” Connor said.