THANK YOU for sharing Riley’s story.  When I wrote that post, ‘I HATE DRUGS’  on Facebook the day after the incident,  I was still in shock- well, I still am by all means in shock.  Not sure that will ever go away.  The rumors were already flying around within hours.  I felt that I needed to share with my friends on Facebook as well as friends of Riley’s, what we knew of what had happened that night. As I wrote it, I didn’t hesitate, I laid it out there and did a call to action because that is how I felt.  I wanted it out there so that the story stuck in people’s minds. So that other teens thought twice before trying a drug. I want the consequences of drug use front and center.  From making one raw, personal post on Facebook, the story began to get shared. It reached Karina Bland who is a reporter for the Arizona Republic, the largest newspaper in Arizona. She felt led to share in the largest way she could- by writing an article. Low and behold the article made the front page of the Sunday paper and ya know what is amazing? As I’m writing this, there have been 10, 331 shares to Facebook from azcentral.com. That’s not counting the shares on Twitter, Linked in or by email. Karina said earlier in the day yesterday  that 79,000 people had read the article from those shares. At that point there had been 7,000 Facebook shares from azcentral.com. As the shares have increased that means the reach of the article has increased as well………people are reading Riley’s story. People from all over and I mean, different states even Canada are messaging me telling me their personal stories of loss, their feelings as they have read the article, and their answer to my call to action to share the story. THANK YOU.

I received a message from a young man the same age as Riley, who just graduated from high school. He said he didn’t know or go to school with Riley, but they had a few friends in common, so he had heard Riley’s story somewhat through the grapevine.  He saw one of his friends share the AZ Central story, and it caught his interest so he read it. He said he was in tears after reading it. He couldn’t even believe it. It had however changed  his heart. A lot of  his friends had been trying out acid, and had asked him to try it too. They told him it’s so much fun, and that it’s not dangerous at all. He said he was getting really close to doing it. He was even thinking about hanging with some friends and trying it this weekend and after reading my son’s story, he had decided that he will never ever touch the stuff. That he just wanted me to know that Riley changed his life. And he said, ” for that I am so thankful. Who knows what would’ve happened had I never read his story”. Did that give you goosebumps? It did me! It made tears fall down my cheeks. There it is! That is why I am sharing Riley’s story. That is why I am so thankful that you are sharing Riley’s story with whoever will listen because that share might be at the right time, in the right moment to change the path of a teen or an adult. I am going to venture to say that this stupid, horrific, all wrong story that I hate very much that it even exists could and will save a life.  THANK YOU.

Thank you from Greg, Djuana, Bria, Braden & Riley.

10, 654 shares

I love you, Riley.